CELEBRATING AFRICA MAGAZINE

IYALAJE POUNDS CELEBRATES BIRTHDAY AT ARROWS OF GOD ORPHANAGE HOME @ AJAH

2011-09-19T09:37:00.000-07:00

Iyalaje Pounds,Managing Director Successlink Group of Companies today celebrates her birthday at Arrows Of God Orphanage Home located at Oke-Ira Ajah.She was accompanied by her loving handsome Hubby,Otunba Olatunji Inaolaji-Shodunke CEO Successlink Group Of Companies and pretty daughter Omotoyosi.The Couple also run their own Foundation-SPONSOR A CHILD FOUNDATION.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY IYALAJE POUNDS,LONG LIFE & GOOD HEALTH

IYALAJE POUNDS CELEBRATES BIRTHDAY AT ARROWS OF GOD ORPHANAGE HOME @ AJAH

2011-09-18T13:06:00.001-07:00

HAPPY BIRTHDAY IYALAJE POUNDS,MANAGING DIRECTOR SUCCESSLINK GROUP OF COMPANIES......................................

No.1 Online Fashion Store

2011-02-19T12:16:00.000-08:00

Tan Leather Boat Shoe

2011-02-19T09:29:00.000-08:00

Tan Leather Boat Shoe

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO IYALAJE POUNDS,WIFE OF PROPERTY BILLIONAIRE OLATUNJI INAOLAJI-SHODUNKE

2010-09-19T05:23:00.000-07:00

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO IYALAJE POUNDS,WIFE OF PROPERTY BILLIONAIRE OTUNBA OLATUNJI INAOLAJI-SHODUNKE.

WATCH OUT FOR AN EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH IYALAJE POUNDS!!!

GOSPEL ARTISTE SAMMIE OKPOSO WEDS OZIOMA MKPARU

2010-07-10T11:45:00.000-07:00

Gospel Artiste Sammie Okposo finally quit bachelorhood as he walks Miss Ozioma down the aisle.At last he has finally debunked the rumour of dating the Nollywood Actress Stella Damascus.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO INAOLAJI OLATUNJI-SHODUNKE CEO SUCCESSLINK CONSULTANCY LTD

2009-10-03T12:19:00.000-07:00

INAOLAJI BABA,WE WISH YOU HAPPY BIRTHDAY.

SPECIAL MESSAGE FROM YOUR LOVELY WIFE-IYALAJE OF CROYDON,I CALL YOU MY FRIEND BECAUSE WE SHARE EVERYTHING TOGETHER,MY SOULMATE I WISH YOU HAPPY BIRTHDAY & MORE FRUITFUL YEARS AHEAD.LOVE YOU.

FROM OMOTOYOSI PRINCESS SHODUNKE---MY LOVELY DAD,WORDS CAN'T EXPRESS MY APPRECIATION FOR ALL YOU DONE FOR ME.SPECIAL POEM TO THE WORLD'S BEST DAD.

Not many can have a fatherWho’s half as great as you.

Others might try, but they fall shy

You’re a top-notch father, it’s true.
So that’s why on your birthday,

I want to make sure you know,

I admire you sincerely and love you dearly,

And those feelings continue to grow.

LOVE YOU DAD

HAPPY BIRTHDAY IYALAJE OF CROYDON

2009-10-03T12:03:00.000-07:00

WE WISH YOU HAPPY BIRTHDAY IYALAJE OF CROYDON

CAN'T STOP PLAYING WAKA--SALAWA ABENI

2009-10-03T11:39:00.000-07:00

After investing over three decades in music, Waka queen, Alhaja Salawa Abeni is not ready to call it quits with a career from which she earned fame and fortune. Not even the recent rumour about her being paralysed with stroke can frustrate her out of music.“Music is a career that God has appointed for me from heaven. And I don’t care what people say about me. I am only concerned about what I do,” a livid Salawa Abeni told nfc.The 48-year old diva who would soon release her 39th album has continued to hold fans spell bound with her peculiar style of Fuji music which had its roots from Waka, a genre popularized by aged musician, Mama Batile Alake. Salawa’s activities earned her the title of ‘Queen of Waka Music’ by the Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Adeyemi in 1992.Abeni’s first album which was released in 1976 on the seal of Leaser Records according to Wikipedia, an online profiling media, is the first musical album to have sold over a million copies by a female artist in Nigeria.Meanwhile, Salawa’s relationship with Leader Records came to an end in 1986, and her relationship with the label’s owner, Lateef Adepoju also ended. She later married Sir Kollington Ayinla and joined Ayinla’s record label and remained with him until 1994. The musician who hailed from Ogun State in this interview with Daily Sun spoke on several issues such as her absence from the music scene, her relationship with her ex-husband, Kollington Ayinla and how she relaxes among other things.

Rumour about strokeFirst and foremost.

I want to let my fans know that I am a human being like them. It is true I was sick but the sickness was not related to stroke or paralysis. Of a truth, I was sick but now I am fine. Stroke or paralysis is not in my lineage, it didn’t happen and it won’t happen. Even at that, is it proper for people to just sit down somewhere and write stories without facts? Absence from the sceneI was sick early this year. I travelled to Paris along the line. And I got an invitation from a family friend to perform at a burial ceremony which held at Police College which brought me back to the country. Generally, middle of the year is always dull for entertainers. Apart from this, as a policy which I have maintained for the past 35 years, I don’t perform during the Ramadan season. With these rumour, they have given me something to sing about. We have been working on it for some time before I was sick. Yet the sickness didn’t last more than a month. Without bringing people with stroke to ridicule, I believe stroke is something one can hide. Fans from different parts of the world have been asking me why I have not released a new album but I want them to be rest assured that very soon, they will hear from me.

Handling negative pressI have been around for a long time now.

The media once said I prayed with 35 candles. Another time they said I told my husband’s second wife to abort her pregnancy. I have been accused of snatching someone else’s husband all of which is false. However, the recent rumour that I suffered stroke is the most grievous. I am appealing to the peddlers of such rumour that I am human and have my own weaknesses. Whatever evil they wish me would go to them. A few days ago, the father of my children Alhaji Kollington Ayinla called to inform me that there was an appeal on radio that people should begin to pray for me to recover from an illness. And I told him that his children are with me and they should be the first to confirm such rumour or information.

Quitting music

My last album, The Truth came out towards the end of 2007. I am not doing any other business and if I want to do anything at all it would still be music. Music is my career from heaven. There is also one thing about me and that is, I don’t care what people say about me. I am only concerned about what I do. Therefore I appeal to my friends and family that by the end of the year or latest early in the New Year, my album would be released. Waka music in NigeriaI don’t think the popularity of Waka Music on the Nigerian music scene has reduced. What we now have are variants of Waka. God just made me to be the symbol of Waka Music but I met the music on ground. Waka is an Hausa language that means music. What makes it different is that it is most sung by female musicians. The forerunner of Waka music, Mama Batila Alake always sat down whenever she performed but when I started singing as a kid, I stood because I was short as a kid. That makes me different from others.In addition, when I started, I introduced new instruments that would make my music more appealing to younger people. Someone sang Ori mi wu o ela gi mo, this was a remix of my song Orin mi ni o mo de o! The man even spoke to me while I was in England and invited me to sing the original version at an award which held in June 2007.So what we have is a variety of Waka music, it is not dead and it will not die. I met it and will leave it for coming generations. Mama Batila Alake has not retired, it’s just that she is now old. There are several Waka musicians and they include Adebukola Ajao, Princess Adetoun (now late), Hamdala Aweni among others. If you want something new to Waka, then I will advise that you wait for my new album. My children taking after me all my children like music. One is singing RAP while another is singing Hip-hop. But they are all in school except for my first born, who has bagged her first degree at the University of Ilorin and her Masters Degree in England. She is presently working with me. Music then and nowI have released about 38 albums. When the situation of the country was good, we could release three or two albums in a year. These days, one might not do any release in two years because as soon as the work is released, pirates would have taken their share of the job.

Secret of my looks

If possible, I would have asked you to see my mother. At 92, she is still agile and moves about by herself. Though my dad died at the age of 78 on April 19, 1990 and the only thing I picked from him is his skin colour. Every other thing I picked from my mother. Looking youthful and fit is something that is common to everyone in my family. Don’t forget I grew up in the village. Men still disturb me.One thing I know is that one has got to be wise and careful. Men will continue to make advances at one but one has to be clever with one’s approach without being rude. This is because you can’t tell where one will meet the same person in the future. But while some people would just want to take advantage of one, one needs some level of tolerance. Some male admirers can even be provocative. I have had funny experiences but I have used wisdom to get off the hook. One day somebody just bashed my car for no apparent reason. This prize came with being a celebrity.

On remarriage

First and foremost, I have kids and God is taking care of them. We are all human beings and if God says I should re-marry who am I to say no, and if he says no, who am I to say yes. I wouldn’t want to say more than this.

Relationship with Kollington Ayinla

Yes he called recently. He is the father of my kids. He wouldn’t wish me bad that is why he called. We can’t be enemies, despite the fact that we are no longer married. We talk when it is necessary especially concerning the children. I don’t see anything wrong in this. Even when I was sick, he called to wish me well. There is a way we’ve always communicated especially when it comes to the children.

How I relax

I do gym regularly. In fact I have the equipment in my house. I usually stand for eight hours to perform. This work requires a lot of stamina. I eat anything, I don’t have preferences but I don’t over indulge myself. I grew up in a riverine community, so I can even eat herbs in the morning. I listen to all kinds of music, even the contemporary ones. But I love Alhaji Sikiru Ayinde Barrister’s music a lot as well as my late colleague and legendary king of pop, Michael Jackson. I was away when he died. His death shocked me so much that I cried like a baby. We have something in common which is that both of us started playing music at tender ages. Although he is older than I with three years. I was told that I started music at the age of nine.

Advice to young musicians

My advice is that younger musicians should be focused on what they do and they should be faithful to their art. They should also focus on songs that make sense. One can do any kind of music but one should have his or her listeners in mind.

INI EDO WEDS PHILIP EHIAGWINA IN HOUSTON,USA

2009-03-01T07:28:00.000-08:00

Photo Credits-Segun Gele

AFRICAN TEXTILES

2009-01-30T04:09:00.000-08:00

WAYS TO CONNECT WITH YOUR SPOUSE

2009-01-29T03:06:00.000-08:00

If you want to connect more with your spouse, try these communication and listening methods.

If your spouse wants to communicate with you, stop what you are doing so that you can give your spouse your full attention.

When talking with your spouse, maintain eye contact.

When you don't want to be distracted while talking with one another, choose a neutral location to have your conversation.

It is important to remember to listen to one another without interrupting.

Don't jump to conclusions about what your spouse is saying.

If you need clarification of what your spouse has said, ask questions, but don't point fingers.

Respond without being critical of what your spouse has said.

Be affirmative and supportive.

Decide together to make time to have alone time with each other on a regular basis -- preferably once a week.

GETTING YOUR MARRIAGE OUT OF A RUT

2009-01-29T02:36:00.000-08:00

Do you ever think that your marriage relationship is stuck in a rut? Do you feel stifled? Do you see your marriage as going nowhere? It took time to get your marriage in a rut. It will take time to get your marriage out of a rut.

Here is a seven-step approach to help the two of you get your marriage out of a rut and to repair your marriage. Driving on the Freeway when you take a trip on a freeway traffic usually moves along pretty smoothly. However, there are times when you may find yourselves stuck in stalled traffic speeding along at 20 mph. You may experience a temptation to get off the freeway. The side roads through the various towns look pretty clear, and are moving along okay. Then you think about the traffic lights and the curves and turns and you reconsider that decision.

Marriage is a lot like driving on the freeways. It can be easy for your relationship to get bogged down in the traffic and rush of everyday living. Your communication may just be crawling along, slower and slower, til you are tempted to think that another relationship may be the answer to being stuck in a rut.

Hopefully, after you stop to consider the reality of your lives and you each look at your own responsibility in allowing your marriage to be in a rut, you both will realize that the "easy or quick" route of changing relationships will not make your lives better.

Seven Approaches to Getting out of a Rut in Your Marriage.

So what do you do when the freeway comes to a dead stop or your marriage feels like it is on a dead end street? A road map with some alternate routes or a GPS device help on the freeway. The way to get out of a rut is to reconnect with one another.

A Weekend Away.

Take a weekend away to a quiet place with no kids, no tv, no internet, no chores, and no work from the office to distract you from one another. Make this a time just for the two of you. Use this time to talk with one another. Talk about good memories, of future dreams, of current concerns and fears.

A Weekly Date.

If finances are tight or you can't be away from your children for an entire weekend, find a way to spend time alone with each other each week. Saying you will have monthly dates isn't good enough when your marriage is in a rut. You need more time than that to reconnect with one another.

A Peaceful Room.

Look at your home environment. If you don't have any rooms in your house that are uncluttered and inviting, then create such a space. Decide together to make at least one room in your home free of clutter. If you can't get a room uncluttered in a weekend together, spend 15 minutes each day working on the room. You both need a space that enables you to feel relaxed and calm. Such an environment can actually make you feel good about yourselves and your marriage.

Write a Letter.

When talking about sensitive issues in your marriage, express yourself without showing hostility. Do not blame your spouse. Keep sarcasm out of the conversation. Examine your own attitudes about the issue to see if you are contributing to the problem in your marriage. If this is difficult for you to do, write down your thoughts and feelings about one issue, wait a day or so, then re-read what you wrote before giving the letter to your spouse.

Make Plans for Your Future Together.

Ask yourselves if you are living the way you want to live. If not, do some brainstorming about strategies to get yourselves to where you want to be -- emotionally, financially, physically, etc. Make specific plans for achieving a goal the two of you have set.

Spend Ten Minutes Together Daily.

Develop a routine of spending ten minutes alone together each day. Make this a time to reconnect. It is not the time to share frustrations or to want to solve problems. This ten minutes has to be a positive ten minutes together. You could spend ten minutes talking about your expectations of the day, or talk about good things that happened to you in the past 24 hours. You could take a ten-minute walk together or do breathing exercises together. What you do with that ten minutes shouldn't be the same every day. Some couples sitting together quietly and watching the sun set or looking at stars.

Do Something New.

Do something new each day. Take a different route home. Eat a vegetable cooked in a different way. Watch a television show or movie you haven't seen. Discover something new about your spouse. Move a piece of furniture. Plant a flower seeds you never planted before. Walk on a different street or path. Play a new card or board game. Learn how to together. It doesn't matter what you do that is new. What is important is sharing what you did that was new with your spouse.

OBAMA INAUGURATION PICTURES

2009-01-27T02:31:00.000-08:00

MRS TEJU PHILIPS--FORMER COMMISSIONER IN LAGOS STATE

2009-01-18T09:49:00.000-08:00

Chief (Mrs.) Teju Phillips, a chartered accountant and former commissioner in Lagos State, in this chat with TOLUWANI OLAMITOKE speaks on her career, role as a politician, marital life and how to run a successful home. Excerpts: Saturday, January 17, 2009

Who is Teju Phillips?

I’M a Lagosian, born and bred there. I schooled in the old Western Region-Ibadan and Oyo precisely, where I I had my primary, secondary and Higher School Certificate (HSC) education. I completed my education in the UK to become a Chartered Accountant. I worked briefly with my father and later Peatmarwick, that is, Ani-Ogunde as a chartered accountant. Peatmarwick used to be the old name. I also worked with UAC before joining the public service as a commissioner. I’m married to Engineer Lanre Phillips and we are blessed with four children and two grand children.

You are a politician. How easy do you think it is for a woman to get to the top in the Nigerian politics?

I was at the top of my career before I joined politics. To me, it has been an era of good education and hardwork to get to the peak and I got appointed as a commissioner.

As a former commissioner in Lagos State, what did you miss out of office?

I miss not serving the people as I used to. When in service, I had a lot of people I was dealing with compared to what holds now, the level has reduced. Despite being out of service, I still relate with and serve my people. This morning, I’ve had politicians coming to me, but the scope was larger when I was in the public service.

What was your growing up like?

It was simple. I grew up in a boarding school all my life there until I got married. I grew up well-disciplined.

Did you marry your spouse because he was rich?

I saw the simplicity in him. Again, I studied him and discovered he was a young man that had a future. The issue of wealth had no basis in the relationship. It was just a young man and a woman meeting, fell in love and got married.

As a daughter of a rich man, how were you able to cope?were you still taking pocket money from home?

When I married my husband, both parents gave us the opportunity to live by ourselves and be ourselves and I think that was a great contribution. I didn’t have interferences that could mar the relationship. Obviously, when you are married, you still have your parents to go to occasionally for advice. you still have their support one way or the other but it has not been a flogging support that destroys relationship.

What are those things that cause conflicts in marriage from your own experience?
Foremost, if your husband notices you do not respect him enough, that will cause a lot of conflict in your relationship. My advice is that you always ensure you respect his views and those things that matter to him must be adhered to. You will have arguments, that’s natural, but you have to argue in a way which will get him to listen to you. Don’t argue with your husband in a domineering manner or try to impose your views on him. If it’s going to take you a hundred and one times to discuss and repeat your views for him to see in your own light, then you do it that way, but please don’t attempt blasting it over him; no, it won’t work.
Again, you have to be domesticated –be a good cook and ensure that what goes into his mouth is super; you must be able to clean the home, have the ability to raise the children and inculcate discipline in the home. Monetary issues shouldn’t lead to crises all the time, no. Also, the habit of leaving kids to be manned by the man alone should not be encouraged. Rather, both couple must join hands together to say ‘no’ before the child when need be, you must let that child know it’s ‘no’ at that time. But when both are together and alone, you can now express your views or feeling on the subject. This encourages a total and perfect upbringing of the child. It’s very impotant to make the children learn to love and fear God from their early ages while the lifestyle of parents must also portray this example. children learn easily from what they see their parents or those who are close to them do. Where the woman has a career and has a lot of money, she shouldn’t flaunt it before her husband. Each other’s inadequacies must be managed, there is no perfect human being.

Can you compare your upbringing with that of your children?

My mother used to beat me a lot when I was young, but my style is different. I was strict with my children, they know I believe in the ‘food stick’ (omorogun), that’s what I used in threatening them. I sometimes tell them to pull their ears and go up and down as punishment. But it was not as tough as what my mother used to do. I feel that I was more liberal.

A school of thought says we are fast losing grasp of our mother tongue. Does this hold in your home?

Up to a point it did. I was corrected and had to made sure my kids had Yoruba lesson from 7 a.m-8 a.m every morning until they mastered it. When you are a career woman and you are off to work, you have home services provider that are there with the kids. They also come and brush in their own English language, they don’t dialogue with the children in Yoruba. So, I had to make conscious effort in making them learn and speak their mother tongue.

It’s obvious you have a successful marriage. What were the things you put in place to achieve this?

I thank God for my marriage. Not lacking in our relationship are patience, tolerance, endurance, hardwork, understanding, believing in the future, discipline and a good conscience. All these are backed with the fear of God.

What place does trust occupy in your relationship?

It holds a very important place.

Can you expatiate?

If you don’t put adequate trust in a relationship, issues that do not matter can come up and cause complications and destruction in a marriage. Come what, you have to trust each other.

How do you feel being a grandmother?

Wonderful! You see yourself in the children and grandchildren. Thank God for the grace of seeing the third generation.

What do you do to keep fit?

I eat well, exercise my body, take vitamins but much more, I always feel contented.

What would you like to be remembered for?

A stylistic ambitious woman with a large heart for the people.

Can you tell me your age?

I will be 55 years old this year.

Extracted from nigeria tribune newspaper

BARACK OBAMA'S PICTURES

2009-01-15T12:25:00.000-08:00

Barack Obama’s stepfather Lolo Soetoro; biological mother Ann Dunham; and half- sister Maya Soetoro-Ng

Barack Obama’s biological mother, Ann Dunham holding very young Obama

Barack Obama's Grandparents

OBAMA'S FATHER

MAN OF HISTORY---BARACK OBAMA

2009-01-15T12:00:00.000-08:00

BARACK OBAMA QUICK FACTS.
Meaning of the name “Barack”: One who is blessed
Barack's nickname when he was young: Barry
Birthdate: August 4, 1961
Birthplace: Honolulu, Hawaii Height: 6’1”
Alma Mater: Columbia University (1983); Harvard Law School (1991)
Marital Status: Married
Wife’s Name: Michelle Obama
Date of Marriage: October 18, 1992
Children: (2) Malia Ann Obama, born 1999; Natasa Obama (known as Sasha), born 2001 Residence: Chicago, Illinois
Parents: Barack Obama. Sr., from Kenya, and Ann Dunham, from Kansas (Mother and father have passed away)
Religion: Christian Hobbies: Poker and basketball

BARACK OBAMA'S QUOTES

Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we've been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.

Barack Obama
There is not a Black America and a White America and Latino America and Asian America; there's the United States of America .

Barack Obama
I am not opposed to all wars. I'm opposed to dumb wars.

Barack Obama
We've gotta restore the American people's confidence in the ethics process by ensuring that political self-interest can no longer prevent politicians from enforcing ethics rules.

Barack Obama
If the people cannot trust their government to do the job for which it exists - to protect them and to promote their common welfare - all else is lost.

Barack Obama
We have to acknowledge the progress we made, but understand that we still have a long way to go. That things are better, but still not good enough.

Barack Obama
Americans…still believe in an America where anything's possible -- they just don't think their leaders do.

Barack Obama
If you're walking down the right path and you're willing to keep walking, eventually you'll make progress.

Barack Obama
People are very hungry for something new. I think they are interested in being called to be a part of something larger than the sort of small, petty, slash-and-burn politics that we have been seeing over the last several years.

Barack Obama
Hope – Hope in the face of difficulty. Hope in the face of uncertainty. The audacity of hope! In the end, that is God’s greatest gift to us, the bedrock of this nation. A belief in things not seen. A belief that there are better days ahead.

Barack Obama
Focusing your life solely on making a buck shows a poverty of ambition. It asks too little of yourself. And it will leave you unfulfilled.

Barack Obama
In the end, no amount of American forces can solve the political differences that lie at the heart of somebody else's civil war.

Barack Obama
The true test of the American ideal is whether we’re able to recognize our failings and then rise together to meet the challenges of our time. Whether we allow ourselves to be shaped by events and history, or whether we act to shape them.

Barack Obama
Americans…still believe in an America where anything's possible – they just don't think their leaders do.

Barack Obama
Faith doesn't mean that you don't have doubts.

Barack Obama
Faith is not just something you have, it's something you do.

Barack Obama
America is a land of big dreamers and big hopes. It is this hope that has sustained us through revolution and civil war, depression and world war, a struggle for civil and social rights and the brink of nuclear crisis. And it is because our dreamers dreamed that we have emerged from each challenge more united, more prosperous, and more admired than before.

Barack Obama
I always believe that ultimately, if people are paying attention, then we get good government and good leadership. And when we get lazy, as a democracy and civically start taking shortcuts, then it results in bad government and politics.

Barack Obama
When people are judged by merit, not connections, then the best and brightest can lead the country, people will work hard, and the entire economy will grow - everyone will benefit and more resources will be available for all, not just select groups.

Barack Obama
You know, there's a lot of talk in this country about the federal deficit. But I think we should talk more about our empathy deficit - the ability to put ourselves in someone else's shoes; to see the world through the eyes of those who are different from us – the child who's hungry, the steelworker who's been laid-off, the family who lost the entire life they built together when the storm came to town. When you think like this – when you choose to broaden your ambit of concern and empathize with the plight of others, whether they are close friends or distant strangers – it becomes harder not to act; harder not to help.

Barack Obama
It's only when you hitch your wagon to something larger than yourself that you will realize your true potential.

Barack Obama
If we aren't willing to pay a price for our values, then we should ask ourselves whether we truly believe in them at all.

Barack Obama
We have a stake in one another … what binds us together is greater than what drives us apart, and ... if enough people believe in the truth of that proposition and act on it, then we might not solve every problem, but we can get something meaningful done for the people with whom we share this Earth.

Barack Obama
The fact that my 15 minutes of fame has extended a little longer than 15 minutes is somewhat surprising to me and completely baffling to my wife.

Barack Obama
What Washington needs is adult supervision.

Barack Obama
The country is not as polarized as our politics would suggest.

Barack Obama
A good compromise, a good piece of legislation, is like a good sentence; or a good piece of music. Everybody can recognize it. They say, "Huh. It works. It makes sense.

Barack Obama
Most people who meet my wife quickly conclude that she is remarkable. They are right about this. She is smart, funny and thoroughly charming. Often, after hearing her speak at some function or working with her on a project, people will approach me and say something to the effect of, you know, I think the world of you, Barack, but your wife, wow!

Barack Obama
My wife has been my closest friend, my closest advisor. And ... she’s not somebody who looks to the limelight, or even is wild about me being in politics. And that’s a good reality check on me. When I go home, she wants me to be a good father and a good husband. And everything else is secondary to that.

Barack Obama
We need to steer clear of this poverty of ambition, where people want to drive fancy cars and wear nice clothes and live in nice apartments but don't want to work hard to accomplish these things. Everyone should try to realize their full potential.

Barack Obama
We can't change the way Washington works unless we first change how Congress works.

Barack Obama
Whenever I write a letter to a family who has lost a loved one in Iraq , or read an email from a constituent who has dropped out of college because her student aid has been cut, I'm reminded that the actions of those in power have enormous consequences – a price that they themselves almost never have to pay.

Barack Obama
That is the true genius of America , a faith in the simple dreams of its people, the insistence on small miracles. That we can say what we think, write what we think, without hearing a sudden knock on the door.

Barack Obama
Our goal is to have a country that's not divided by race.

Barack Obama
Iraq is sort of a situation where you've got a guy who drove the bus into the ditch. You obviously have to get the bus out of the ditch, and that's not easy to do, although you probably should fire the driver.

Barack Obama
My faith reminds me that we all are sinners.

Barack Obama
Making your mark on the world is hard. If it were easy, everybody would do it. But it's not. It takes patience, it takes commitment, and it comes with plenty of failure along the way. The real test is not whether you avoid this failure, because you won't. it's whether you let it harden or shame you into inaction, or whether you learn from it; whether you choose to persevere.

Barack Obama
I have seen, the desperation and disorder of the powerless: how it twists the lives of children on the streets of Jakarta or Nairobi in much the same way as it does the lives of children on Chicago ’s South Side.

Barack Obama
When we send our young men and women into harm's way, we have a solemn obligation not to fudge the numbers or shade the truth about why they're going, to care for their families while they're gone, to tend to the soldiers upon their return, and to never ever go to war without enough troops to win the war, secure the peace, and earn the respect of the world.

Barack Obama
Yes, our greatness as a nation has depended on individual initiative, on a belief in the free market. But it has also depended on our sense of mutual regard for each other, of mutual responsibility. The idea that everybody has a stake in the country, that we're all in it together and everybody's got a shot at opportunity. Americans know this. We know that government can't solve all our problems - and we don't want it to. But we also know that there are some things we can't do on our own. We know that there are some things we do better together.

Barack Obama
Most people who serve in Washington have been trained either as lawyers or as political operatives – professions that tend to place a premium on winning arguments rather than solving problems.

Barack Obama
We’ve come to be consumed by a 24-hour, slash-and-burn, negative ad, bickering, small-minded politics that doesn’t move us forward.

Barack Obama
In an interconnected world, the defeat of international terrorism – and most importantly, the prevention of these terrorist organizations from obtaining weapons of mass destruction -- will require the cooperation of many nations. We must always reserve the right to strike unilaterally at terrorists wherever they may exist. But we should know that our success in doing so is enhanced by engaging our allies so that we receive the crucial diplomatic, military, intelligence, and financial support that can lighten our load and add legitimacy to our actions. This means talking to our friends and, at times, even our enemies.

Barack Obama
We should be more modest in our belief that we can impose democracy on a country through military force. In the past, it has been movements for freedom from within tyrannical regimes that have led to flourishing democracies.

Barack Obama
Race is still a powerful force in this country. Any African American candidate, or any Latino candidate, or Asian candidate or woman candidate confronts a higher threshold in establishing himself to the voters

Barack Obama
Our enemies are fully aware that they can use oil as a weapon against America . And if we don't take this threat as seriously as the bombs they build or the guns they buy, we will be fighting the War on Terror with one hand tied behind our back.

Barack Obama
Politics has become so bitter and partisan, so gummed up by money and influence, that we can't tackle the big problems that demand solutions. And that's what we have to change first. We have to change our politics, and come together around our common interests and concerns as Americans.

Barack Obama
It's not just enough to change the players. We've gotta change the game.

BARACK OBAMA BIOGRAPHY

Barack Obama was born in Honolulu, Hawaii, on August 4, 1961.
The name “Barack” means “one who is blessed.” And when Barack was young his family and friends called this blessed young boy “Barry” for short.His father, Barack Obama, Sr., was from Kenya, and his mother, Ann Dunham, was from Kansas. His parents met at the University of Honolulu when they were students (his father was attending on scholarship).

Barack’s parents separated when he was two years old and then divorced when he was four, and his father eventually returned to Kenya. His mother later married another foreign student, Lolo Soetoro, who was from Indonesia; and in 1967, Barack moved with his new stepfather and mother to Jakarta, where he lived from age six to ten.

When Barack was ten, he returned to Honolulu and lived with his grandparents, who took over parenting duties. While in Honolulu, Barack attended the renowned Punahou School until he graduated in 1979.During this period, Barack was able to see his biological father, who returned to Honolulu for a brief visit in 1971. Sadly, that would be their last meeting as his father died in an automobile accident in 1982. (Barack would lose his mother to cancer 1995.)

After his 1979 high school graduation, Barack moved to Los Angeles to attend Occidental College. He studied there for two years and then transferred to Columbia University in New York City, where he majored in Political Science and received his Bachelor of Arts degree in 1983.
After graduation, Barack worked in New York at Business International Corporation and New York Public Interest Research Group before returning to Chicago, where he became a community organizer with a church-based group which worked to improve living conditions in poor neighborhoods.

He entered Harvard Law School in 1988, where he was elected the first African-American president of the Harvard Law Review in its 104-year history. He went on to receive his J.D. degree from Harvard in 1991 with magna cum laude honors.

He then returned to Chicago, directed a voter registration drive, and soon became a civil rights attorney and a lecturer on constitutional law; and in 1992, married the love of his life, Michelle.
And it was in Chicago in 1995 that Barack released his first best-selling book: “Dreams from My Father.” He was offered the book contract shortly after becoming the president of the Harvard Law Review. The book is a compelling memoir of his life.

Barack’s political career began with his election to the Illinois Senate in 1996, where he would serve from 1997 to 2004. In 2000, he ran an unsuccessful campaign for a seat in the House of Representatives, but would go on to run for the U.S. Senate a few years later.

And while Barack was running for U.S. Senate, he was presented with the opportunity of a lifetime: to give the keynote address at the 2004 Democratic National Convention in Boston. And it was at that convention that Barack gave one of the most inspiring and moving political speeches ever delivered, and by the time the speech was over, Barack became a political heavyweight and an instant celebrity.

Barack went on to win his U.S. Senate race in a landslide, capturing 70% of the votes. And, riding a wave of strong popularity, published his second best-selling book in 2006, “The Audacity of Hope,” which expanded on the issues he touched on in his 2004 DNC speech.
On February 10, 2007, Barack Obama announced his candidacy for president of the United States.

But of all of Barack’s achievements, nothing has made him prouder than becoming a father to his two wonderful girls: Malia (born 1999), and Sasha (born 2001).

SUZANNE WENGER KNOWN AS ADUNNI OLORISA OF OSUN DEPARTED AT THE AGE OF 93

2009-01-15T02:43:00.000-08:00

When the end drew near for the priestess of Osun, the elements combined and a sudden midday rain started and ended abruptly in Osogbo, Osun State capital, on Monday.

After the rain, Wenger, 93, passed on at the Our Lady of Fatima Catholic Hospital, Osogbo. Before she died, Wenger, who was surrounded at her sickbed by some of her 15 adopted children, asked, "What day of the week is it? What time of the day is it?" When answers were given to her inquiries, she replied, "It's time to go. It's good. It's ok." And with these words, she breathed her last in the presence of her first adopted son, Chief Sangodare Gbadegesin Ajala and her adopted daughter, Chief Doyin Faniyi.

Recalling how the culture matriach passed on, Ajala attributed her transition to old age. "She died of old age. She was not particularly sick. She spent only a day in the hospital. A few minutes before her death, she took her bath and was served her tea, which she drank.

"In the last seven days to her demise, she called us (her children) together and talked about the philosophies of life; religion and culture with us. She engaged us for one and a half hours everyday on different topics. She said we should preserve our culture and religion.
"She was unhappy that the Osun grove was not being taken care of properly and that many of her artworks are in a state of neglect at the grove," he said.

According to her adopted daughter, no part of Wenger was removed during the burial rites performed in the forest grove late Monday night by Oro and Osun worshippers. It was said that Wenger specifically requested not to be kept in the mortuary but to be buried immediately.
Faniyi said, "She doesn't want any tomb to be erected for her. She doesn't want anyone to know where she's buried. She just wants to be buried without fanfare. But we are going on with all rites which will be in segments.
"We are commencing with a seven-day ritual and this will be followed by a 16-day ritual and another 21-day ritual."

Before her death on Monday, she was seldom seen in public due to old age. Her last public outing was in 2005 when artists, who went through her tutelage in arts and craft, celebrated her 90th birthday in Lagos. As expected, tributes have continued to trail her transition. Ambassador Segun Olusola thanked God for her fulfilled life while recalling the times in the 70s when they would carry her all the way from Osogbo to Victoria Island, Lagos, to participate in television programmes. "She was well versed in the Yoruba pantheon of the gods with which she was actively engaged," he said. He also described her as a significant member of the Yoruba cultural leaders. "She left a very straight forward relationship of her devotion to the goddess. She also nurtured younger ones in the traditional way," he said. painful as her death is, it is consoling that she lived a fulfilled life and was celebrated severally in her life time with the biggest recognition - a national honour of Member of the Federal Republic - accorded her by President Umaru Yar'Adua just two weeks ago. That was Osun State Governor, Olagunsoye Oyinlola, acknowledging the contributions of late Susanne Wenger, MFR, whose remarkable devotion to the worship of the Osun Osogbo boosted the annual festival, giving it an international status. The late artist saw the potential in the festival and employed artists that added essence to the celebration of the goddess. Oyinlola described her death as the end of an era in the cultural world, and a loss to the entire world because she had become a bridge across cultures and continents. Her life, he said, "was a lesson in being true to oneself and to whatever one is committed to. "The late artist represented a bridge across continents and across cultures. She came from the western Europe in the early 1950s in search of what her partner, Ulli Beier, tagged, Ori Inu (her real essence), which she later discovered in the bosom of the spirituality of Osun."

He noted that through her singular effort, Osun Grove has become world renown and preserved for posterity, adding that she would be greatly missed by all lovers of culture across the globe.

For Ambassador and Permanent Delegate of Nigeria to UNESCO, Prof. Michael Omolewa, "Wenger left her mark and legacies indelibly on the cultural map of world, and she will always be remembered for her impressive works, love of Yoruba people, passion for the development of the African cultural heritage, and encouragement of truly global cultural village. Although she is dead, her name and her works will live for as long as culture lasts in the world."

The governorship candidate, Osun Action Congress, Mr. Rauf Aregbesola, calls on the Federal Government to immortalise Wenger, whose death, he described as the end of an era.
A statement by the party's Director of Media, Mr. Gbenga Fayemiwo, on Tuesday, in Osogbo, said the "indelible marks made by Wenger on African culture will last till the end of history."
"We salute her deep insight, vision and perseverance to attain the stardom that her sojourn accomplished in Nigeria. If anybody deserves credit for the eventual recognition of the Osun Festival as a World Heritage Centre, Susanne Wenger's name stands tall as an Amazon of World Culture."

As a young Austrian girl, the late Wenger began her sojourn in Nigeria in the 50s during a chance visit to the famous Osun grove and that became a defining point in her life.
She threw herself wholly into the worship of the Osun goddess and in that, her life took on a meaning. She succeeded in integrating her art into nature and the worship that is the essence of the Osun grove. An artist and a sculptor, she studied art in Graz and Vienna. She was a part of the famous Vienna Art Club and after the Second World War; she took her art to Italy and Switzerland where she had exhibitions together with the famous artists at the time in the gallery, Des Eaux Vives in Zurich. In 1949, Susanne went to Paris, where she met Ulli Beier who was being posted to work in West Africa. They got married and in the 50s, both arrived in Nigeria. They lived in Ibadan for a while and from there, they moved to Ede. She was quickly integrated into the culture of the people. It was in Ede that Susanne Wenger met a powerful Obantala priest, Ajagemo, who initiated her into the traditional Yoruba worship of Orisha. She would spend the next 50 plus years living as an "Adunni Olorisha" among the Yoruba people in Nigeria in West Africa.

The name, Adunni Olorisha signified a bridge between two cultures - European and Yoruba. She became an important part of the rich traditional cult life in Osogbo, which annually climaxed in the festival of the river, the Osun Osogbo Festival. Her love for the Yoruba culture saw her leaving her husband to embrace the Yoruba traditional religion wholly. She was later remarried to a drummer, the late Ayansola Oniru.

Wenger was essentially a spiritual being. From a very early age, she had been strongly attracted to nature and specifically by trees - in which she was said to have recognised "the images of sacredness". She was said to have specifically requested to be buried immediately and would not want her final resting place known for fear it could be turned into a tourist site. She was laid to rest in one of the sacred shrines in the groove.

To the uninitiated, late Wenger, known as Adunni Olorisa, was just a lover of nature. But she was more than that: she was a believer in that which is deeply etched in man- his essence. She searched and, her husband then, a German linguist, Ulli Beier, said, she found her real essence, which he called Ori-inu, in the worship of the Osun Osogbo. She became Adunni Olorisha which means 'the loved one who worships the deity,' and was influential in the listing of the Osun Grove as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 2005.

ESAMA OF BENIN KINGDOM,CHIEF GABRIEL IGBINEDION GIVES OUT DAUGHTER IN MARRIAGE

2009-01-11T16:30:00.000-08:00

Omosede Igbinedion, the pretty daughter of Chief Nosakhare Igbinedion will soon be getting married to her prince. Her groom to be is Prince Avan Akenzua, Son of the Enogie of Obayanto, HRH Uyiekpen Akenza.
According to the article in Ovation,“The prince charming, studied microbiology at the Edo State University said he is head over heels in love with Omosede. He revealed what endeared him to her was her transparency”
He also said this about his bride to be “She is a woman that can add to a man’s future and also help shape his future ambition. She also has the capacity to help you channel your resources on the right path. This is why I have chosen her as my bride to be”.
Omosede is a lawyer and a business woman. She is said to own a nice shopping plaza in Benin City. Congrats to the couple

EX-BEAUTY QUEEN CHINENYE IVY OCHUBA WEDS

2009-01-11T15:29:00.000-08:00

The Anambra born leggy queen of beauty Chinenye Ivy Ochuba after finishing from Reagan Memorial Secondary School, she contested for the Most Beautiful Girl in Nigeria beauty pageant and she won in 2000. Her reign was a scandal-free one unlike her predessessors whose reigns are full of scandals and slanders. The seventh child in a family of 10 children shortly after her reign left her University of Lagos’ Computer Science course for the University of Greenwich, London where she studied Accounting and Finance and just graduated last May. Miss Universe pageant in Puerto Rico and Miss World were the major international beuaty contests she would have gloriously won but due to one hiccups to another she missed the enviable crowns and was well favoured with second best. Having completed herdegree in Accounting and Financing at the University of Greenwich, London. She has returned back to Nigeria to soleminise her long-standing relationship with an international businessman called Adekunle Tajudeen Akinlade.

MICHAEL ALONGE of http://www.nigeriafilms.com knocked the doors of his mouth 40 hours to their white wedding and he opened up on himself and the leggy queen of beauty, Chinenye Ochuba.

Can we have an insight into your background?

How did you meet Chinenye Ochuba?

I met her in Lagos actually, when I came into town in 2004 on Holiday, I went out with my cousin, Rasaq Adigun, we went out, you know, I can not remember the name of the bar but it was on the Island, I am not really an outgoing person, I just came on Holiday then and my cousin just took me out. While we were relaxing, four ladies walked in and we looked at them and said hi! Hi! One of them was so friendly and we started chatting, though, I walked up to them to introduce myself, I said my name is Kunle and I will like to know you people, I was targeting her but I didn’t go to her directly, I wanted to come in through the one that was so jovial amongst them. I gave them my numbers, local and international. They didn’t call me before I left for England but later when I got to England, a couple of days later, one of them called me and I was like what about that your friend now, she said which one and said the slim one among you and she said ok Ivy, I said yes, though, I didn’t know who she was, weather a beauty queen or anything. She gave me her number and I called her and we became friends. We started talking for about three, four months about ourselves. Then one day I asked her if she ever thought of making a career in modeling, at least, you are tall, young and beautiful and she said she’s done pageant. Oh Pageant which one and she said MBGN, and I asked what is MGBN, she responded that Most Beautiful Girl in Nigeria and I said ok, I know about Ben Bruce’s stuff. I asked what year and she said she won 2000 and I was surprised and I asked her if she could send me her pictures because that time really I just saw her once so I could picture what I saw at that bar that day. She said I should just google her name and when I did, I saw her pictures and profile and I was like wow you are really pretty you know, I now promised to come to Nigeria to meet her and the rest is history.

How did you meet her parents?

Oh! Her parents are wonderful people, as a young girl, they’re concerned about her and very protective of her I spent four day in Nigeria and went back to England . When I got back, she was in UNILAG then and I was like why don’t you come over to the UK for your studies, it’s better here you know with all this strike everyday and talked to her dad as regards that too that her intelligence would be more aided if she could come over to England for her academics. The dad made all the necessary arrangement, they got the form for her and she moved to Greenwich University , England , where she read Accounting and Finance. While she was in England I was able to see her quite often so the relationship developed from there. She just finished last May 2008 and she came out with flying colours 2.1. She’s serving with Exxomobil on the Island now; she’s an embodiment of knowledge. She’s very brilliant. She’s been a blessing; she’s a wonderful gift to me by God.

What was the attraction like?

For me really, I am not a party person, my life is all about business, as a financial manager, all I know how to do is to make and manage money so you can now imagine the first special outing with a cousin and four beautiful girls coming and you look at them and one at of those four people has a rare quality, something different from the normal Nigerian girl. You know, some Nigeria girls will have this hip, you know with some curves and all that but seeing something different, just like an average white woman in England, made my feel wow she might not be a Nigerian. But I got to know her well when we started talking that she’s a very careful and intelligent person. She’s got an aura that will just make you like her, she’s composed, very cultured person and in fact she’s everything. When I met her parents, they were not interested in the cars I drive or where I live, they were particular about me and what I do for a living. She’s from a very humble background and you know if someone is from a humble background, and someone gives you something, they know that the person might have given that something for something, you know, she’s not materialistic, she’s not extravagant, and I always ask her that for someone like you, what would you ask that a man would not give you and she’s like those things don’t matter.

Aside all this you mentioned above, what other quality would you say struck you when you met her?

You know when you first meet a girl, there are lots of things you won’t know about the person until you get close to the person. When I’ve got to know her parents, I have always believed that if you pluck a fruit from the tree, the fruit is fresh and good, look at the three; it must have had an effect on the fruit, that’s what I can say about that. The parents are people who are well disciplined and that act of discipline has been deposited into all their children. When I met her dad, he’s a retired Engineer, her mum is a teacher, and with the way they were talking to me, I know that definitely I am in the right place. So, there I discovered that the contentment nature of Ivy is inherited from her parent. She can live on a bottle of water for a whole day even if everybody around her is having coke and bugger. She’s got this inner value, you know, she’s not greedy and she’s very humble.

As a former beauty queen, are you not afraid of loosing her into some highly influential people who may want to sweep her away from you?

She goes around on her own and it has never bothered me if anyone that drives Ferrari or helicopter would take her from me, she has strong family values and that actually built that love and respect I have for her over the years.

Was there any reservation, objection or obstacle from her parents as a Yoruba man when you declared your intention about their daughter?

They are liberal people, they are from Anambra but they were born in Lagos , the dad speaks fluent Yoruba language, the mum too, you can imagine a teacher in a Yoruba State and all her friends are Yoruba people. The ethnic thing has never been an issue with the family, honestly. If I call dad now, you will be shocked that he would talk in Yoruba Ah Kunle Bawo ni? Se o wa okay…All their neigbours are Yoruba so to them I am just another Yoruba neigbour from the next door. If you ask Ivy all the people she went to school with from Primary to secondary they are all Yorubas. Her friends are Jumoke, Teni, Ireti… they are all Yorubas. If I had been a Hausa guy, it could have be language problem, you know, because none of them schooled in the North.

When did you propose to her?

I didn’t talk marriage the first day I met her, the marriage proposal started coming up late last year when she was about finishing her academics,. That was the condition then that before anything, you have to graduate from the university. And late last year I proposed to her and she called her parents and siblings and they all supported it and I gave her a ring. February this year, we came to Nigeria during the Val. And we had our introduction two days after Val and my people met with hers. Ever since, the relationship is blossom. Her dad and mine have become best of friends.

Would like to talk about your past relationship or was it marriage?

Just a relationship, we weren’t married. It’s like a relationship of every young man. I don’t want to talk about it because it’s personal. My wife, Chinenye Ivy knows about it. I think I am just lucky to have a chance like this that’s all.

How did Chinenye feel when you told her about Temilade, your child?

Well, she took it like every other woman will take it. Funny enough, I told her when we were still chatting on phone and they have since become friends. Honesty or sincerity matters most in a relationship.

Most celebrity’s marriages hardly work, what are the machinery in place to make this stand the test of time?

I confidently believe that it’s only God that makes a marriage work. There is nothing a man can do by himself without God’s support. You can be the poorest man on earth and still have a broken marriage but if a marriage is based on God’s foundation, I believe strongly that it’s going to work. What a couple should do to help their marriage is to fear God and be honest to one another. We always joke about it that we only have a 70 years contract and after 10 years we sit to review the marriage on how to spend the remaining 60. But I must confess that ours is a marriage made in heaven.

CONGRATULATIONS BUKKY ADEOYE ON THE SAFE DELIVERY OF YOUR BABY GIRL

2009-01-11T15:17:00.000-08:00

THE ENTIRE STAFF OF CELEBRATING AFRICA MAGAZINE REJOICES WITH YOU ON THE SAFE DELIVERY OF YOUR BABY GIRL.

THE ADEOYES

RMD APPOINTED COMMISSIONER FOR CULTURE & TOURISM IN DELTA STATE.

2009-01-11T15:02:00.000-08:00

Richard Mofe-Damijo popularly known as RMD has been appointed COMMISSIONER FOR CULTURE & TOURISM IN DELTA STATE.Born on the 6th of July 1961, only son of his mother.Presently married to Jumobi Mofe-Damijo(nee Adegbesan).An actor and a trained lawyer.

2009-01-10T18:44:00.000-08:00

WEDDINGS 2008

2009-01-10T16:54:00.000-08:00

MY WIFE AND KIDS ARE MY WORLD---DESMOND ELLIOT

2009-01-10T16:40:00.000-08:00

Desmond Elliot is one of the top talented actors in the Nigerian movie industry popularly called Nollywood. An unassuming and God-fearing person, Desmond is the story of a hardworking and focused young man. With diligence, hardwork and perseverance, his rise to the top was rapid. The boyish-looking and handsome man has acted in so many movies. Some of his works include Magic Moment, Last Oath, True Romance, With Love, and Wild Rose. In this interview, Elliot takes a look at his career, highlighting his strengths, mission and vision.

What were your younger days like?

I remember those years as the good old days. I grew up in Jos. My father was a Civil Engineer, while my mother ran restaurants. While those years were fun and nice, they gradually became tough when depression came into Nigeria and things. It was nice and tough. At a very tender age I became a Christian, which went a long way in controlling me and shaping me into who I have become today. My father is a Yoruba man from Lagos State, while my mother is an Ibo woman from Anambra State. . I had my primary education at Air Force Primary School in Jos, from where I went to St John’s College, also in Jos. I studied Economics at the Lagos State University, Ojo, Lagos and graduated in 2003.

Why did you choose to become an actor?

My dream was to go abroad to settle down. I was denied visa then, and so I came to Lagos. While in Lagos, I was jobless, as I really wasn’t doing anything tangible. A friend of mine talked me into taking part in movies and I decided to give it a trial. It actually started as a hobby, but today, it is a career. I first started with soap operas such as Everyday People, One Too Much, Wale Adenuga’s Super Stories and Saints and Sinners.

How did you meet your wife and what was the attraction for her?

We met in Jos, at fellowship. We were members of the acting group. My wife and I never really liked each other. While she thought I was carefree, I thought she was too much of an introvert. But as time went by, we began to know each other better. It was a gradual process because we started off as friends. Later, one thing led to another and today, here we are as man and wife. I dated my wife for about eight years before we finally got married. My kind of job may have exposed me to the opposite sex but the truth is that my wife means the whole world to me. I appreciate my wife and I married her basically for love and nothing else. She is so understanding and caring. These are the two vital attributes I find lacking in most women of today.

What are her names?

She is Victoria Ima-Obong.

Since she always thought of you as carefree, how does she cope with your acting, especially with you having to kiss other women, which you do quite often?

How will you feel if somebody else kisses your husband? It makes her uncomfortable, but she now knows the tricks behind it and it is not much of a problem now. There are things I do she does not like, even on screen, and she tells me. In all, we always try to arrive at a compromise. That is what life is all about.

What of female admirers?

How does she cope with their advances?Well, that’s one thing that endeared her to me. In my profession, you meet people everyday; male and females alike. While there is no need to be a snub, you also have to be cautious about being over-friendly.

Have you had any embarrassing moment from your female fans?

So many, please don’t even go there. So far God has been delivering me and I still pray for his continuous deliverance.

Could you be more specific?

Some ladies call to have a date with you. Some others offer me money just to sleep with them; they make passes at me. Acts like these are embarrassing to me. The point is this, how many fine girls are you going to date? You just stick to the one you love and life would be easier and more enjoyable. Women chase me because I am an actor and if they don’t do that, it simply means that I am not yet an actor. In fact, being chased is not the issue, what matters is that whenever I perceive that I am about to be chased, I run. I run because I have an ambition, which I don’t want women to ruin for me. I run from them if they want to go beyond the level of being my fans to another level.

Are you serious?Is it that bad?

I just told you.

So, you think it is your being a Christian that has saved you? For those who offer money, I hear the figures are so tempting you young men are hardly able to resist?

God forbid. I am a Christian, I love my wife and children dearly. I am not prepared to jeopardise the peace and love that reigns in my home. For young men who cannot resist these women and their money, good for them. People are different and so our priorities. I had always wanted to settle down from as young as when I was eighteen, but somehow, it didn’t happen. I am a strong believer in the family. A man who wishes to succeed in life must keep the home front happy and the way to do so is to flee from temptation.

How would you assess the movie industry?

The fact that the Nigerian movie industry is growing is a positive development. I am grateful to all those that are making it happen such as the marketers, directors, producers and others. Nollywood contributes to the nation’s economy because quite a number of people are involved and are earning their livelihood from the industry. The only problem is that our government is yet to fully realise the great economic advantage that lies in tapping into the industry. America and India have tapped into Hollywood and Bollywood respectively and the result is quite rewarding.Government should come and invest in the industry, the marketers have done great jobs by investing their money to prove that the sector is lucrative.

Who would you say has contributed the most to who you have become today?

My talent is a gift from God and whatever comes from God is mine. At the same time, God gave it to me and reserves the right to take it back if you fail to use the gift to make people happy and contribute to the good of humanity.

If you had not become an actor, what would you have been?

A banker.

How comfortable are you?

I eat everyday, I drink water, I pay my bills, and I also support people whenever I can. I thank God for that.

How do you relax?

I love to stay at home with my family, watching movies. Family time is special and very relaxing.

Which day would you say has been your happiest?

Day, you mean. The day I got married and the day my wife was delivered of our twin sons.

CELEBRATING AFRICA COUPLE OF THE YEAR

2009-01-07T16:58:00.001-08:00

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH YEMI BLAQ

2009-01-06T07:30:00.000-08:00

Since making his entry into the movie industry in 2005, Wesley Snipes' look-alike, Yemi Blaq, has proved it takes more than great looks to be a lead man. With a diction that is captivating, his roles in movies like Sting, Control and Coded were outstanding. Down to earth and very accommodating, the Theatre Arts graduate from the University of Benin.

What was growing up like for you?

I grew up in a home of seven children. I grew up in love. I studied Theatre Arts in the university because of my unbelievable love for the arts. My parents are arts inclined, with my mum being more of the artistic one. So I guess I inherited this love from them. Growing up, I wrote poetry, songs. But after studying the rudiments; the business, I decided to come into the industry fully. I did not just dabble into the business of acting. I came into it ready for the business.

How has the business been so far?

So far, so good! It can get better, though. I expect scripts to be able to stretch me to the extreme of my capacity.

Which role has been your most challenging?

My most challenging role has been Osaro: The rise and fall. Every movie is challenging. It is also difficult. Acting is not as easy as people think it is. Acting entails a lot. Reading a script and getting into character requires immense concerntration, especially if that character is foreign to yours. Every role though comes with its own challenges. Then, there is also being able to entertain, which is the skill.

What is your assessment of the movie industry?

It is rated the third in the world. I do not have the expertise to doubt it. We need to go beyond trying; go from good to better. I know we will get there. We are already making headlines internationally. Beyond the problems of piracy and distribution, the issue of funds to execute projects is a problem. Until big money is pumped into the industry, mediocrity will continue to thrive. If you pay peanuts, you get monkeys. But when you pay good money, you will only do so to the very best.

Are you married?

I am not married but I hope to be one day. I love family. It is the best thing to have happened to man.How do you deal with female admirers?I love women; I honestly do. I have more female friends than males. It is a natural thing for me. I love my female fans too. The word is caution. I have my boundaries in all aspects of life, including my dealings with females. I leave things easy. I appreciate the fact that I am admired and so, I will never take advantage of the likeness because it is an honour to be appreciated.For a good looking man who speaks like you do, what happens if one of these admirers wants to take things a little further?Come on it won't happen. I certainly will not encourage any such move.

What is style for you?

I am an ultra-casual guy. I do not believe I have to go with the trends. I want to wear something I can move around in; something that fits and is smart. There is no need to wear a suit in this part of the world, only to end up sweating like a goat. Unless, of course, you are one of those who practically live in an air conditioned world.

Which is your favourite song?

Soul E's Soul E Baba dey here.

How do you unwind?

When I am not acting, I am at home. I am a homeboy who likes to sit at home and watch movies. I also like to write songs. I love animals too but unfortunately, space would not allow me to keep them now. I would love to have a cheetah and maybe a snake.

What is your source of inspiration?

I draw inspiration from everything. It is not enough to just see things. We need to observe things, learn from things, circumstances. Life itself is inspiration. People are works of art and are always changing. The hustle and bustle of life should not deprive us of enjoying the gifts of life and its benefits if we only but pause a minute to see life for what it truly is; a gift from God.

What is the greatest problem facing the average Nigerian?

The basic problem in Nigeria is poverty. When you constantly try to break out of it and cannot, it becomes frustrating. As actors, we should not just consider ourselves as entertainers, but make ourselves worthy of emulation. I would rather be liked and be proud of, rather than be a potential criminal.

What of tales of homosexuals rocking the industry, is it true?

There are homosexuals everywhere. Once they do not shove it down anyone's throat, fine. No one has the moral right to be a sexual police.

Have you had advances from any?

Do I look like I should have had any? It would be suicidal for anyone to think of me in that light and attempt to try his luck with me.

How would you assess the Nigerian woman?

Men and women should live in partnership. A woman complements a man. The Nigerian woman needs to take stand for herself. Women have been too financially dependent on the men. With more financial independence, the sky is the limit for the Nigerian woman because she is beautiful and gifted. She is also strong and bold. Therefore, she needs to be more aggressive when it comes to empowering herself, especially financially.

What is your dream for your career?

My dream is to get N18 million for every role. I want to be known the world over. I want to be able to make good things happen. Being an actor is not just to be seen on the screen. You should be able to add value to the lives of the people who see you.

Who are your role models?

They may not necessarily be role models but I admire the likes of Oprah, Madonna, Angelina Jolie, who have the clout to change the world. They have made positive impact on humanity which is a goal of mine.

Which actor do you admire?

Johnny Depp's acting has depth.

What is your philosophy of life?

Do not give up. There is nothing happening to you that has not happened to someone else. So, do not give up.

Do you believe abstinence is the best way to fight the HIV/AIDS scourge?

Abstinence is best only if you can do it. Education, awareness are the keys with which stigmatisation is better dealt with which is a way forward. There is the need for people to know that people with the disease are as human as those without it

OLU JACOBS--ACTOR WITH A DIFFERENCE

2009-01-06T06:51:00.000-08:00

Olu Jacobs is a name that is very synonymous with the Nigerian theater and the art. With more than forty years experience on the job, the United kingdom-trained practitioner is far from retiring. In this no-holds-barred interview with Showtime Celebrity, Uncle Olu as he is fondly called by friends and associates speaks on his career, his wife Joke and more. Excerpts;

How do you cope with working with the younger generation of stars on set?

I work with upcoming artists but many of us make fundamental mistakes by calling people stars when they are not stars. Our audiences call us stars, we do not call ourselves stars because it takes a lot to be a star but unfortunately we find that we are in a nation of titles where you find an upcoming person calling himself a star even when he is not. That limits one’s growth and I really think it takes more than that to be a star. It takes years of work and highly appreciated work by the public before you begin to recognize one as a good actor. Talking about working on set with the upcoming artists, it is very challenging and interesting to work with them.
Some find it difficult fitting into their various characters well enough because they don’t take time to study the scripts well and understand the characters enough. Others find it hard interpreting their roles very well. Some times there are problems and nobody to help so you have to do the best you can to help the situation.

And what was government’s role in the development of the movie industry?

For a very long time, government never took this profession seriously. Once they see off their guests to the airport that is all. They only paid lip service or use artists to entertain their guests. That was the way they saw the profession before now. And suddenly when they embark on their numerous foreign trips, they are being congratulated by their hosts for movies coming from Nigeria and how enjoyable they are. As new economic doors are being opened, they began to realise that there is something after all to say about the industry. Apart from the opportunities the industry offered Nigerians, there is the foreign exchange earning for the country. And this aspect is the reasons why the distribution area of our industry is being looked into by the government and new laws enacted to control film distribution in the country. We are entering a new phase and I believe that we should give the Census board a chance, there is no better alternative and I honestly believe it will work. I find it embarrassing that in a country of about one hundred and forty million people, we cannot sell one million copies of our movies. It is very embarrassing but with this new method of distribution, I know it will work.

What could have been responsible for this, could it be that the industry was not well represented in the past?

Just as the name depicts, an actor is there to act, a director is there to direct, a producer is there to produce and a distributor is there to distribute. That area has suffered untold negligence and this is the reason government is starting to offer assistance because it benefits government and the private sector.

Was there any particular movie that you starred in that you found very challenging?

I study scripts well, when I read the story I understand my roles very well, I never have problems with any.

Which is your first movie?

It was called Carrying Up the Jungle. It was shot in England.

How did you feel acting first time, with real professionals?

I felt numb, I was miserable because I have done stage plays and with stage plays, I get my reactions from my audience instantaneously. And when I’m getting them, I know when I’m losing them. And I know when I have them under the palm of my hand. But with the movie you are talking to a cold iron, just the lonely voice of my director saying; ‘thank you Olu, thank you, okay give me a close up of that or give a medium’ that is all you hear and I did not know how to deal with that. Three days later you meet the director and he says ‘that was good’ just like that and he is gone. That was how I felt the first time.

How much were you paid in your first professional job?

It is supposed to be private and confidential.

Having been around for so long, what is your perception of sexual harassment in Nollywood?

Let me tell you categorically. I have never been sexually harassed.

But you are a man now?

So, men are harassed too.
It is most unlikely because this is a man’s world . . .
Don’t let anybody deceive you. It’s a woman’s world as well.
I think wherever you have men and women, men will fancy women and women will fancy men but some men will like to take undue advantage of the situation and some women unfortunately will like to take undue advantage of some men. But I don’t think it is something you get too many people to talk about these days. It comes out, you know it happens but you find that most of the people who think they have to harass to get a favor from their actresses don’t usually do well, eventually people find out and things begin to dry up as far as job is concerned with them and some of them are still around and they have gone down. Like I said, it happens both ways and I think it is much, much less than it was now because most of them have left because jobs were not coming to them anymore.

How do you handle advances from your female fans?

I really believe that somebody has to have courage to look for my number and phone me. And when that happens, I thank them and I try as much as possible to be as nice as I can.

How do you feel when you are on same sets with your wife?

We are working, at least I know that she is an actress I’m happy and comfortable. We work very well.

Do you work as if you are working with any other person?

But when we are on set, we concentrate on our works and change costumes and all that. Work is work, after work then there will be plenty of time to do other things. We don’t take the time of work to do other things; after all, we came from the same house.

Since both of you are in the same career, how do you now joggle the home front and the job?

We are lucky we have children who understand the way we work and we try as much as possible to think of them too as we move around. My eldest boy is in America and I have a young boy so it is for him we are worried about so that he doesn’t feel our absence too much. But as things happen, when I’m at home she is either going or returning home from set and I will be on my way out. So we are not too far from him.

When you started out with your acting career, were your parents supportive?

My mother was but my father was not in support of it at all. He was a prolific dancer and drummer but he did not do it as a profession. He’d always say it was for pleasure. My mother requested to know why I was bent on doing it and I explained to her that I love telling stories, I love the way it is being told and I want to go and learn how to tell it because I enjoy it.

And how did you now get into the game proper?

I saw Ogunde in Kano when he was on his annual tour (I was born in Kano). On the day he came, I’d gone out on an errand and I saw this vehicle with so many people standing, singing and throwing leaflets to people. It was a beautiful picture the crew painted. When I got home and told my mother I wanted to go watch him, she said ‘you want to watch what? And I said Ogunde. She tripled my work load and pronto I finished the chore and when I told her, she didn’t believe it. But in the long run, she convinced my father to take me along to the show. The experience was wonderful and there and then I told my mother this is what I want to do. She promised to talk to my father about it, but she didn’t but on her own supported me when I travelled abroad for further studies. As for my father knowing what I was up to, I already have my passport and my visa. He did not know but my mother of course knew.

Your accomplice?

Yes my accomplice. On the appointment day, my father went to work and I took the train to Iddo in Lagos, then from Iddo to the Ikeja Airport Hotel where I was lodged.
When I got to England, I wrote him a letter, he was angry, so I wrote him another one. And when somebody was coming to Nigeria, I sent him some pipes and British tobacco, because he was a piper. In reply, he just a wrote a short note saying ‘how are you? Thank you for the gift’ and that was all. We exchange some few more letters after that. In his last letter he said he wished me luck and that I should always remember whose son I was. Unfortunately, we never saw again because he passed on before I got back.

You were doing well in UK, why did you come back to Nigeria?

That is one question that people find very difficult to understand. I’m a Nigerian and I went to England to train so that I can contribute to the improvement of the theater in Nigeria. I did not go to stay. Most people who travelled had that in mind. It’s only in the last say twenty years ago that you find people going and settling abroad. But I went so that I can come and give our people those things that they crave for in the theater. That was the stage I was in. I left Nigeria in September 11th 1964 and in 1980, I made the journey back home. And in 1984 I was invited to help start Second Chance and Third Eye, a detective series and from there, my agents called me and told me that I was wanted for another shoot that took me out of the country for eleven months. And after that, I came home and never left the shores again until 2001.
When I first came back, I was disappointed with the state of affairs but then it was a challenge. My wife happens to be an actress so we were speaking the same language so even if everybody around us didn’t understand us, we understood each other and this made life a lot easier for us.

How did you meet your wife?Did you ask her that question?I want to hear from the horse’s mouth

Am I a horse now? (Laughs) I was invited at the National Theater to help start Wole Soyinka’s Jero’s Metamorphosis and it was the premier so we did that at the National Theater. After that we had a play produced for the twenty-first independence anniversary and I was directing that play.
We had a very heavy cast, we were about one hundred and twenty and we were having a conference and a production meeting when the door opened and this lady walked in. I’d never seen her before and I said ‘Ladies and gentlemen, this is the lady I’m going to marry’ and she assessed me with her eyes and left.
No sooner, we became friends and from being friends, five years later, we were married. I’m not an impulsive person, I did not know why I said it, I just said it and I didn’t feel uncomfortable about it.

So how have you managed to keep your marriage together?

We thank God because it is God’s blessing that supercedes everything. It is always good when God gives you your friend; when you meet your friend, life is much easier because where others fail, friendship sustains. She is more than a wife, she is a mother, she is a friend, and she is very caring and generous and very deep a person.

Is she very romantic?

She is very romantic.

REASON BEHIND REAL WOMEN FOUNDATION---ADENIKE ADEYEMI

2009-01-06T06:13:00.000-08:00

Adenike Adeyemi is a Christian leader with a humble background. Not only does she come from a well educated family and comfortable home, she is also the wife of Reverend Samuel Adeyemi, the founder and senior pastor of Daystar Christian Centre, Lagos. You would not be amiss if you concluded that Adenike is a woman of comfort who should not have any burden in life. But the University of Ibadan-trained motivational speaker would tell you that though she has the wherewithal for comfort, she is not comfortable.

Reason?

There are so many women outside there, she says, who are not comfortable because they face a lot of physical and emotional issues ranging from prostitution, trafficking, child abuse and abject poverty among others. She therefore has a burning passion to rehabilitate them not just to make life meaningful to them but also to make them fit into the society with a view to nation building.

A burden"How can I feel comfortable when so many women and children are hurting outside there? I need to apply my God-given compassionate spirit to do something to assuage the afflictions they are facing both emotionally and physically. That is really the reason behind the inauguration of Real Women Foundation," soft-spoken Adenike declared.

According to her, the foundation is intended to support the emotional, physical, economic and spiritual needs of specific women and children with rehabilitation facilities, especially those that have a history of abuse and neglect.

Purpose

She speaks further. The idea of Real Women Foundation is basically anchored on the need to bring healing to women, empower them and build them up in the proper way for a better living and in the interest of the Society, as well as the transformation of the nation. When we looked around and discovered that there are certain women who are liabilities to the community, prostitutes and young girls who are not trained and not even allowed to go to school, including young girls who are trafficked, we decided to raise a foundation that would focus on transforming them and adding value to their life, not just to make life meaningful to them but to make them fit to return into the society. We feel that if women are okay, the Society, nay the nation will also be okay. The foundation believes that changing the mindset of women is crucial to nation building. We are preoccupied with healing, teaching and transforming broken-hearted an abused women and children into people of courage and self-reliance.

Our programme

In order to actualize our dreams within the context of the set goals, objectives, vision and mission, we created a series of programmes. Among them is Peace Villa. This is a rehabilitation center located at Magodo-Shangisha, Lagos. It is a residential programme focused on emotional healing, reform, self-esteem and self-sufficiency. It is a place of solace that provides physical and psychological distance necessary for women to break the cycle of dependence, incarceration due to prostitution and other forms of abuse. With this initiative, we reach out in love to women and offer alternatives to those who are interested in change. It has gradually become a turning point for various hurting women, including former prostitutes, children and destitute. At the villa, we also provide opportunities for vocational training. Another crucial programme we run is Love Home, which is basically meant for abandoned and abused babies. Here, we offer a comfortable, caring and loving environment for such babies. We care for babies whose mothers are not economically and emotionally stable to cater for them. For Girls Only is also another fundamental initiative of Real Women Foundation. It is meant for counseling female students in secondary schools to prepare them to be future women who may face abuse and rejection. We teach the female students how to groom themselves and build a healthy image, good behaviour and good hygiene. We also teach them how to live a balanced healthy life in order to become nation builders.

Our Institute of family Value is another project in the pipeline. Catching Real Women bug. As far back as 1987, I saw the plight of prostitutes and started reaching out to them in their brothels one-on-one and I tried to find out what pushed them into selling their bodies. I made friends with some of the girls and was able to discover that among most of them, there was an issue of sexual abuse, neglect, family breakdown and poverty. Some of them migrated from the Eastern part of the country to Lagos to find ways of making ends meet. They don't have real family and moral value. Unfortunately, they don't even get the true benefit they are looking for. Rather, they are dehumanized, sexually assaulted, abused and enslaved. Some of them face horrible raping and incest experiences. Consequently, they become emotionally maladjusted. When I saw their plight, I started by talking to them on the need to go for other options that can shape their lives for better living. Propelled by numerous chances of assuaging their plight, I started putting some initiatives together which yielded positive results and transformed to Real Life Foundation. I have been to brothels and listened to their explanations on the circumstances that forced them into prostitution. About 98 per cent of them attributed their decision to abject poverty, joblessness and hunger.

If government had shown any concern, I don't think some of the girls would have opted for prostitution, which most of them claim to be their means of livelihood. Those who were ready to change after my counseling programme are always taken to Real Life Foundation for rehabilitation to regain self-esteem. Some of them would complain of not having money to do their hair. Others even lack pocket money. For such people, I started by giving them money assist them. But I discovered that was not enough means of making life meaningful to them. This is one of the major factors that led to the idea of initiating a special organization (Real Life) to help them and my priority is to ensure they change from their immoral ways. Giving them money was not enough because I observed that they would still go back. So, the best thing to do was to build a home for them, pick them off the streets and brothels, rehabilitate them and teach them to live a decent life. Those who agreed to change packed their belongings and moved to the homes for rehabilitation. A lot of them have been transformed already. At the home, we try to teach them all the values they did not learn in their fathers' homes. Those who did not have the means of going to school are sponsored. For instance, one of the rehabilitated girls is about to graduate from Covenant University. Dropouts among them are also assisted to continue their education. The home is called Kids Villa. It started since 2002. Right now, we have seven of such girls. But in all, we have been able to rehabilitate 75 ladies since inception. They are on their own earning a decent living now. They are into different professions, vocations and trades. Few girls

The reason we have only seven girls in the home now is that we find it very challenging and difficult to keep them side by side with the kids in the orphanage, which we also run for less privileged kids. More so, when people heard of our humanitarian services, they started referring pregnant young girls to us for rehabilitation. Some women who have been chased out of their homes by their husbands or divorced and looking for a place to stay would come and stay in the home and would not like to go again. We found out that our purpose was being defeated because the home is meant for rehabilitating prostitutes as well as young girls who don't have parents, or those who suffer neglect from their parents, especially from ages 13 - 25. All we can do to assist people outside this category is to link them with NGOs who have special programmes and initiatives for them.

HAPPY NEW YEAR GREETINGS

2009-01-03T09:27:00.000-08:00

Wishing our readers a very properous 2009.It is our prayer that your heart desires would be fulfilled in the year 2009.I would like to share with you five tips for a better 2009.

1) Write down your immediate goals,short term goals and long term goals.

2) Seek the face of Lord before making any decisions.

3) Cultivate the habit of reading atleast one book in two months

4)Be passion about your goals

5)Set a realistic goal.

Our motivational column would be updated weekly so please do visit to read inspirational and motivational articles.For any questions or enquires please do send an e-mail to king_foundation@yahoo.com.

DO YOU STILL WANT TO COME TO UK?BY DANESI YUSUF

2008-12-29T13:49:00.000-08:00

I do understand why you want to migrate given your love for your family. I am happy that you have all obtained your visas as you look forward to transferring your media skills here (UK). Work was not going the way it should in spite of your towering industry stature. So you have thrown in your retirement letter to everyone's shock. You have sold all you ever owned to be able to relocate with your family. In a nutshell, bridges have been burnt as you look forward to making UK your "new home."

However, you need to prepare for a completely strange transition, which may either make or break you. You will practically go to 'school' on CV writing and before you eventually get it right it might take roughly three months- this is no exaggeration, as there are many critics out here. You will start pushing out your new CV, while it takes about 3,000 to get you one interview! You may have to push out about 30,000 copies to get 10 interviews and you’ll probably need to attend 30 interviews to finally land a job! The truth is you may have to send out 900,000 applications before you get a job here!

If you are wondering why this is so then consider the following statistics and facts: the Royal Mail risks 50,000 jobs; Woolworths, which has 813 stores, collapsed in November and as a result, 25,000 jobs are likely to go; the pound has hit a near low against the Euro; manufacturing has fallen to record lows; the service sector is in record contraction; Britain is slipping down the income rankings; the Bank of England is being blamed for the recession; unemployment has hit 1.8 million- the highest since 1998; UK debt has risen to 1.5 trillion pounds, etc.

Do not be shocked that your M.Sc degree means nothing to the employers here. Worse still, the almost 20 years of experience you have does not count! Most employers do not even know what the HSMP (Highly Skilled Migrant Programme) means!

It is great that you are coming with your family of five, but you need at least £13,000 (N2.8m) to survive the first six months of possible unemployment- and this is outside of London! You’d probably need close to double that amount if you decide to reside in London. You may not be able to earn the mandatory £35,000 per annum required by the Home Office (if your visa is to be renewed in two years time) if you do not work in London. And if your post code reads anywhere but London, your applications will all fire blank. Meanwhile, no employer will tell you the reason.

If you have a relation or friend who lives in London and is willing to accommodate you temporarily, why not come alone for now? However, the danger in that is multi-faceted. Who says you will find work in six months- even menial work? There is a recession here, which affects virtually every sector. You will be shocked to learn that the employment agency would rather call, and even in some cases, register somebody from the EU who cannot express him/herself clearly in English than give you, a master's degree holder a break. And the job in question? Factory operative! The wage is about £5.75 an hour before tax/NI deductions. Do not forget that you need to be in the £24/25 per hour bracket to hit the HSMP £35k target. Relationships with your hosts will be strained in most cases and you will be running bills back home too since your wife is not working.

If you have the money, come with your family, stay with your host for not more than 72 hours, maximum, a week, but be prepared to contribute your quota to the upkeep of the home. You will be lucky if your hosts are not greedy because they have not set eyes ever on the kind of money you are coming with at a go, in their 20-something years of living in the UK!

That you have the money is no guarantee that you will immediately get a house of your own because you do not have a credit history. If you do not have a guarantor (and many potential ones are unwilling) then just pay six months rent upfront. Though the checks that will still be undertaken may take between two to three weeks. Make sure your landlord in Nigeria can easily be reached by the referencing company, e.g. e-mail, fax, land phone, mobile, etc. If you do not get a permanent job before the six months and your landlord wants to sell the property then you start the process all over, though your Nigerian landlord may not be contacted again. If your employment is temporary/contract, which is less than 6-12 months, you will need a guarantor.

Do not be in a hurry to own a car because keeping it on the road is not a joke; more so your driving licence/experience, like your academic certificates/experience, will not be recognised! You will have to start from scratch as a learner, in spite of your 18 years accident-free driving experience on roads that are death traps in Nigeria! Do not even think of using your international driving licence because of the prohibitive insurance premium you will be paying on it. What baffles me, however, is the accident statistics here despite the very strict driving/traffic regulations - every morning my radio reports accidents on the A2, M25, and the lot, as fatal!
The bills never cease to come from utility companies whether you have a job or not! Your local council tax is even reviewed upwards and if you call to let them know you are not working, they ask if your wife is and if she is. Your subsequent bills will come in her name! If you are impatient, the thousands of rejection letters you are going to receive on your applications will almost make you stop believing in yourself - you will think you are absolutely useless!

An attempted foray into other unrelated survivalist professions like care work may even return further rejection letters- but you are highly skilled! You will crave anything eventually because the bills are ticking away - lunch time play leader, mail sorter, support worker, anything.
You pick up most newspapers here and it is obvious you could do a better editing job if given the chance, but you have sent more than 5,000 unsuccessful applications to be considered even for the post of assistant reporter! You will almost feel like quitting. Your foreign degree is competing with theirs in this period of recession. Thousands of their citizens are out of work and they would rather give them priority. But do not be frightened, do not despair. I understand that your Christian faith is intact: that is a vital credential you will be need here at this time. Be prepared because at a stage it will look like God does not even operate here!

You were given 24 months and by 10 months into your visa some prospective employers are already weary of even interviewing you, citing "company policy" as the reason (your visa is running out of steam). I can confirm to you that many Nigerians here are returning home in great numbers- are you surprised?

Do you still want to come to UK? Whatever decision you take will be most respected by me and my family. Unfortunately, I am still trying to find my feet too and may not be able to be of assistance other than the frank, naked and analytical advice I have provided here. Above all, be propelled always by the thought of seeing your sacrifice for your family to the end. Believe in God, who knows all things. Surround yourself with positive and encouraging people. Do not regret your decision- keep fighting. Weigh the options, take the ultimate decision and never look back afterwards.

• Danesi, posted this article on Nigerian Village Square and lives in the UK

FINALLY INI EDO CHANGES NAME--MRS INI EDO-EHIGWINA

2008-12-01T13:30:00.000-08:00

Ini Edo is officially married to her bestfriend,Philips.Love conquers all,despite all the rumours and controvesy Philips prove to be a man of his words when he stormed Akwa Ibom,Ini's hometown.We wish the couple a lovely marriage.

2008-11-28T05:34:00.000-08:00

WWW.SUCCESSLINKTEXTILES.CO.UK

FOR YOUR JEWELRIES PLEASE DO VISIT WWW.SUCCESSLINKTEXTILES.CO.UK

2008-11-27T09:42:00.000-08:00

Dare Art-Alade is a class act by all standards; he is a radio presenter a Master of Ceremony and a musician all rolled up in one. He is the son of the late music maestro Art Alade and in this interview with Ahmed Boulor, the father of one bares his mind on a range of issues which includes: his marriage, career and his current status as the co-host of MTN's Project Fame.

HOW does it feel being the host of MTN's Project Fame knowing fully well that you once participated in the maiden edition held in South Africa four years ago?

It feels really humbling and it also goes to show that what goes around comes around and we must at every point in time do our best in whatever activity that we are involved in because one never can tell who is watching. Four years after I feel privileged to be selected to host the show out of the very many talented ones who are potentially good for the job. So it is a feeling of pride and humility all in one.What is the experience of being the host of the show like?

So far so good, it is not something new.

I am used to hosting and presenting or things like that. But, it has its own challenges as well and the whole process has been exciting. You seem to be versatile being a musician, an Mc and a radio presenter.

Which of these are you more comfortable with?

All of them! I don't have a problem with any of them. It is just about being comfortable with creativity in any form that it comes. I wouldn't say I am the best painter or artiste, it is just my ability to apply my creativity to whatever I am involved in: music, dance, theatre and the media.

What is the reason behind shooting two different videos for your single entitled Carry dey go?

We actually did both versions on the same day. The first one that featured me and Tu face was very artistic. But the remix is more of a club mix; it is more of dancehall package and it features Naeto C. The major reason we had two videos for the song was simply because the original and the remix are different modes; the one that features Tu face is slow mellow while the that has Naeto C on it is more of a party blend.

Why did you leave Storm Records?

It is what you may term mutual understanding; two matured parties understanding that it is not working the way it ought to work and instead of making a fuss out of it, we decided to call it quits and part ways. But I am still a friend of the Storm family.

On what label will your forthcoming album be released?

I have my own Entertainment label called Soul Produktionz; so instead of calling ourselves a record label we are just doing independent shows and consultations for entertainment.

How far has worked gone on your forthcoming album?

It's looking good! I am recording more songs like the one I did with Tu face and the album will be out in January. I also have a song with 9ice and I have been recording with TY Mix, Cobhams and Don Jazzy. So it's coming on well and it will be an album specifically for matured audiences; people who are in relationships or who are in love. I also have one or two party songs that will prove to be club hits.

Has marriage in anyway softened you?

I have always been a mellow person for those who know me. When I try to be aggressive is when I put up the youthful exuberance cloak; but really I have come to realise that my strong point is in being mellow. That is why I sing slow and mid tempo songs and I discovered that anywhere I go in the world when I open my mouth and sing songs like that, I catch the audience.

How does it feel being a father?

I feel blessed having a son! It is a great feeling anybody out there that has one knows exactly how I feel. It shows how blessed and favoured you are in the sight of God. Now I have a responsibility that I have to take care of and unlike before money for shows is not for me alone as I now have mouths to feed.

Of all your fathers' children, you are the only one that followed in his footsteps and in the process you have gained considerable popularity. Does this not make your other siblings uncomfortable?

Not at all! I mean if there is any thing they are really supportive of me and they are happy that I am doing what I am doing and carrying on the legacies of our late father. I totally have their support and I don't have any problem regarding that.

Do you not feel any pressure of any sort being married to somebody older than you are?No pressures at all!

Every body at sometime finds what works for him or her. I am perfectly happy with my marriage to my wife and I absolutely have no problems or pressures of any sort.

Word has it that you have moved from Lagos to Abuja; do you not think that will affect you considering the fact that Lagos is the boiling point of entertainment in Nigeria?

Yeah! Lagos is the hub of entertainment; but Lagos is not where all the money is. Money doesn't stay in one place, there is money in America and there is money in South Africa. There is money in Lagos and Abuja if you want to broaden your horizon then you should not be restricted to a place. The money I can make in Lagos is very minimal but that is not the reason why I am in the capital city. Abuja is where my family is and it is a very cool place to raise a family. Lagos is chaos, it is a mad place and I have lived here for many years so I know how Lagos operates. I also have my businesses in Abuja and I basically shuttle between Lagos and Abuja. I am not somewhere just for fun; anywhere you see me there must be a reason for being there.

Is it true that you will be travelling to South Africa soon?

That's true! We are going to shoot more videos and see if we could fix other elements of the upcoming album. There will be photo shoots, interviews and what have you.

How soon will your album be released?

Hopefully and by the grace of God, it's going to be released in January. The album proper will be launched in February which means that you would have had the album before it is launched.Is that in anyway a strategy you are adopting to make the album make an impact in terms of popularity? You could call it a strategy but for me it is just common sense. When you sit down and carefully think of what people will like and how it will best work for them and you try it out. Sometimes you get it right and sometimes you get it wrong.

Having had first hand experience with Project Fame four years ago; how would you rate the talent of the contestants in this year's edition with your time?

There is a lot of talent in the house; again is about people coming out when an audition is called. Somebody out there might be a better singer but if you don't come out and show those who are conducting the audition what you can offer then your talent dies with you. What we have seen are one of the best of talents that we have at the academy. I am not saying that they are the there is but those that are better out there didn't come but of all the lot that were auditioned the best were selected.

Are you making money off music?

I haven't started making money the kind of money that I should; considering the amount of resources one invests in the making of albums. But a lot of people do music without the love of it, if I didn't love what I am doing I would have been distracted and disillusioned with piracy and what have you. The more consistent you are, someday, that big breakthrough that you wished for would come. The music business is a business of hope and you must keep hoping for the best. Look at people like Majek Fashek and Onyeka Onwenu; if any of them ever stopped at any time in their careers they would have been forgotten. The most important thing is for people to remember you. You may not be rich but they know you are there and you are doing what you know how to do best.

Would it be okay to sum up that the kind of music you sing is determined by your kind of person?

Yes! Generally speaking or around the world, the kind of music you hear from an artiste to a certain extent can tell you the kind of person he or she is. You could tell by the lyrics he chooses to use and things like that. So I am an artiste that likes it blue and slow. I also like to dance, I know how to rock the show but I am more mellow.

2008-11-27T09:16:00.000-08:00

MICHAEL ALONGE of http://www.nigeriafilms.com knocked the doors of his mouth 40 hours to their white wedding and he opened up on himself and the leggy queen of beauty, Chinenye Ochuba.

Excerpts…Can we have an insight into your background?

My name is Adekunle Akinlade, I’m in my late 30s, I am from Agosasa in Ipokia area of Idiroko, Ogun State . First born in a family of nine. My mum is late, she died in 1997, my dad is a retired army officer, I read Political Science in LASU, did lot of courses in England, I did Financial Management, I have a six year-old from previous relationship, Temilade. I used to have a business here in Nigeria in the 90s but I left Nigeria for England in 2000, immediately I got there I set up my company, Cleveland, we into property, oil and gas and financial management. I was doing my business in England until 2007 when I relocated back to Nigeria . That’s about my life generally.How did you meet Chinenye Ochuba?I met her in Lagos actually, when I came into town in 2004 on Holiday, I went out with my cousin, Rasaq Adigun, we went out, you know, I can not remember the name of the bar but it was on the Island, I am not really an outgoing person, I just came on Holiday then and my cousin just took me out. While we were relaxing, four ladies walked in and we looked at them and said hi! Hi! One of them was so friendly and we started chatting, though, I walked up to them to introduce myself, I said my name is Kunle and I will like to know you people, I was targeting her but I didn’t go to her directly, I wanted to come in through the one that was so jovial amongst them. I gave them my numbers, local and international. They didn’t call me before I left for England but later when I got to England, a couple of days later, one of them called me and I was like what about that your friend now, she said which one and said the slim one among you and she said ok Ivy, I said yes, though, I didn’t know who she was, weather a beauty queen or anything. She gave me her number and I called her and we became friends. We started talking for about three, four months about ourselves. Then one day I asked her if she ever thought of making a career in modeling, at least, you are tall, young and beautiful and she said she’s done pageant. Oh Pageant which one and she said MBGN, and I asked what is MGBN, she responded that Most Beautiful Girl in Nigeria and I said ok, I know about Ben Bruce’s stuff. I asked what year and she said she won 2000 and I was surprised and I asked her if she could send me her pictures because that time really I just saw her once so I could picture what I saw at that bar that day. She said I should just google her name and when I did, I saw her pictures and profile and I was like wow you are really pretty you know, I now promised to come to Nigeria to meet her and the rest is history.How did you meet her parents?Oh! Her parents are wonderful people, as a young girl, they’re concerned about her and very protective of her I spent four day in Nigeria and went back to England . When I got back, she was in UNILAG then and I was like why don’t you come over to the UK for your studies, it’s better here you know with all this strike everyday and talked to her dad as regards that too that her intelligence would be more aided if she could come over to England for her academics. The dad made all the necessary arrangement, they got the form for her and she moved to Greenwich University , England , where she read Accounting and Finance. While she was in England I was able to see her quite often so the relationship developed from there. She just finished last May 2008 and she came out with flying colours 2.1. She’s serving with Exxomobil on the Island now; she’s an embodiment of knowledge. She’s very brilliant. She’s been a blessing; she’s a wonderful gift to me by God.

What was the attraction like?

Aside all this you mentioned above, what other quality would you say struck you when you met her?

As a former beauty queen, are you not afraid of loosing her into some highly influential people who may want to sweep her away from you?

Was there any reservation, objection or obstacle from her parents as a Yoruba man when you declared your intention about their daughter?

When did you propose to her?

Would like to talk about your past relationship or was it marriage?

How did Chinenye feel when you told her about Temilade, your child?

Most celebrity’s marriages hardly work, what are the machinery in place to make this stand the test of time?

A BLACK MAN IN A WHITE HOUSE--OBAMA MADE HISTORY,FIRST AFRICAN-AMERICAN TO BE PRESIDENT ELECT IN USA

2008-11-05T02:40:00.000-08:00

A man of change.A man of Dreams.A man who has realized Martin Luther King's dream forty-five years ago. "Forty-five years ago Martin Luther King had a dream of an America where men and women would be judged not on the color of their skin but on the content of their character. Today, what America has done is turn that dream into a reality,"

A man who has done the black race proud.A man who despite all odds stood and fought for his beliefs"YES WE CAN".He is man who never believed in IMPOSSIBILITIES but POSSIBILITIES.

A boy born on the 4th of August 1961 in Hawaii without a spoon(not to mention silver spoon)raised by his grandparents and his single mom not many knew him 10months ago but today he is known all over the world as a man who made history in our lifetime.

Obama displayed greatly the power of faith,self-motivation,self-confidence and positivity.He acted in faith calling the things that were not as if they were.Take a look at the planning of the election party at chicago even before the election results,the event was planned in preparation of the victory.He won the election by taking steps of faith even before the election results.What a change?

HISTORY IS MADE

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2008-10-26T08:41:00.000-07:00

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DUNNI OLANREWAJU---OPELOPE ANOINTING

2008-10-25T02:52:00.001-07:00

There was a taxi driver who went to his church to give testimony after he narrowly escaped being killed by the passengers in his car. He was beaten to a state of coma. As he gave the testimony of his life, narrating how God Almighty saved his life, his wife jumped up from amongst the congregation and started singing Oluwa, Oluwa mi (My God, my God). Her husband burst into tears of joy while the wife and the congregation joined him in shedding tears of joy. Such is the acceptability of the Opelope Anointing that gospel lovers started asking questions about the composer of the record.

The album was released at the time when the old timers in the gospel music industry were re-recording and re-launching their old records, so as to remain relevant and to satisfy their teeming supporters.

The brain behind Opelope Anointing is Evangelist Dunni Olanrewaju, who has passed through the thick and thin of life in every area of her endeavour. Today, she is staging a comeback.
This encounter with her revealed what has kept her out of circulation for sometime and her new marital status.

“Do you know that every thing under heaven has its time? I thank God today for the gift of life. The challenges are so enormous but God is there for me. I am married to my music now. The issue of marriage is not in my agenda; the focus is my music and how to praise my God to high heavens.”

Could she have regretted being beaten and battered in the past? “I have no regret. From the beginning, God has always been on my side. He has done all His works that will enable me to succeed.

One might think that force can do things sometimes; no, but with fervent prayer and wisdom and by striving hard, a lot can be achieved. It is like when a pregnant woman wants to deliver her baby, she will have to forcefully push –if anybody wants to be great in life he needs prayers, wisdom, patience and even aggressiveness. I thank God that in the beginning, it was the grace of God which enabled me to overcome all the problems.”

Asking what should her fans be expecting, Opelope Anointing said, “They should always believe in God and see Him in me. I would always cherish them for their patronage.”
Rumoured in some quarters that she had secured property in London, Opelope Anointing gave thanks to Almighty God. She said, “I thank God. You have said a good prayer for me. No foreign currency anywhere, but the Bible says "Go ye into the world and preach the gospel. My regular travelling is just to keep in contact with my fans all over the world, which by the grace of God is yielding positive results."

"The greatest testimony I would like to share with the children of God is Opelope Anointing. Somebody asked me sometime ago where I had been all the while. But something happened and I want the children of God to learn a lesson from it. "I was in a church in early 1999 and we were told that the spirit of God asked people to do property offering and I was thinking of what was in my house that was worth giving out. I then thought of my fridge and when I got home, I packed the fridge and sowed it for the church. The story of my life changed from that point. Also in Ibadan some years ago, I was in a church where we were asked to do a thanksgiving we’ve not done before and I told God, ‘you know that it is only 200 naira I have in my bag.'
That day, the spirit of God told me that, ”Dunni, do you know that if you do not complete your contribution, heaven will not release anything wonderful to you.” This was repeated thrice and we were at Christ Revival Miracle Centre Church in Ibadan. I then asked my workers to bring money realised from the sales of cassettes, though I was invited to come and render songs of praises at a revival organised there. But the problem with me was that the money was to redeem the debt I owed a recording studio. I resolved that it is the soul that owes that will. So I gave out the total money realised to God as offering.

When we got to Lagos, the first surprise I had was that on the third day I dreamt I was in a big auditorium and I saw late Pa Babalola, my grand father who was a pastor before he died and between two of them I saw something that looked like the statue of Jesus but I just heard a voice that Baba wanted to bless us that we should kneel down –we were in the church. I just discovered that the statue of Jesus started moving towards me. He prayed for somebody and also prayed for me but I could not remember all that happened. It was when I woke up I discovered that whatever curses or ill-luck in my life had gone into the whirlwind."

Are you celebrating your annual anniversary this year or…?Yes we are celebrating by the grace of God on Sunday and it’ going to be awesome. We’ve committed much resources into the program, just come and see Opelope anointing in new dimension.

OKECHUKWU UKEJE---AMBO 2 WINNER

2008-10-25T01:32:00.000-07:00

Last year’s winner of the Amstel Malta Box Office 2, Okechukwu Ukeje, has said that he faced many challenges during the competition, but he had no choice but to work hard to make it to the top.

And he is already enjoying the fruits of hardwork and endurance. Since he emerged the AMBO winner last year, he has become a regular face at locations, featuring in some movies that would soon be released.

He said he had started by acting in a concert where some movie businessmen spotted him and liked the way he played his role. They then decided to secure his services.

The graduate of Marine Science from the Lagos State University disclosed that he is from a family of four with just a single parent. But the challenge of having to live on the meagre resources provided by his mother did not distract him from pursuing his dreams.
He said his mother had told him she had no objection to his decision to pursue a career in acting as far as that would make him happy.

Even when he had to choose between travelling to England and writing his semester examination in his second year at the university, his mother, to his surprise, did not object to his travelling abroad.

Ukeje may have become a star, but he said he had not lost contact with his friends whom he reckoned had been his great supporters. “They are my great supporters. Nothing has changed between us since I won the AMBO 2 competition. We are still buddies. They were there before AMBO, so I can never ignore them,” he said.

He, however, would not speak about his love life, saying it is a private affair which should be distinguished from his business life. “There should be a demarcation between family and business. But my girlfriend is fine. She is in support of what I am doing and we are doing well,” he said.

According to him, the yet-to-be-released films he has already participated in include White Rogers and Comrade. “And, of course, let me just say that I have a lot of projects on ground. But you cannot say you have a job until you have put pen to paper,” he said.

Asked what plans he has for his country, Ukeje said it was a premature question for an up and coming artiste like him. “Until we have fed fat and our tummy is full, we cannot start thinking of what to do for the country. But I must also say that life will be a better place if only we don’t think of ourselves alone. “For now, I am working on some TV shows, which is a medium to sensitise the society and make people realise how much success you have recorded in your chosen field.” He said in spite of his foray into acting, he still planned to practice the course he studied in the university, but that would be in the area of investment. “I see it as an investment angle because I don’t see it as a study and study thing even though we have to study to know certain things, but of course, there is a time when that will be required.”

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2008-09-20T06:36:00.000-07:00

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2008-09-19T02:28:00.000-07:00

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BARACK OBAMA BIG'S NIGHT

2008-09-16T13:47:00.000-07:00

It looked, felt and even smelled like a rock concert with the $6.50 nachos, the crowd filling Denver's 76,000-seat Mile High Stadium and the opening acts by superstars Sheryl Crow and Stevie Wonder. But instead of upheld lighters, American flags filled the stands as Barack Obama officially accepted the Democrats' nomination to be the party's candidate in the 2008 race for the White House.

Michelle Obama, in a red and black dress, watched from the front row of what the Democratic Party called an open-air convention and doted on their young daughters as if they were at home in Chicago. But the closing night of the Democratic Convention in Denver was in fact – with the fireworks, streamers and ecstatic crowds stomping their feet as if to collapse the stadium – a piece of political theater on a scale this country has never seen.

After taking the stage, thanking the crowd countless times and accepting his party's nomination, Sen. Obama, 47, turned the attention to those closest to him. "To the love of my life, our next first lady, Michelle Obama, and to Malia and Sasha," he said at the podium, "I love you so much and I'm so proud of you." Michelle, 44, beaming, blew her husband a kiss.

Remembers Mother Earlier, in a film tribute, the senator from Illinois spoke of his late mother, Stanley Ann Dunham, who raised him on her own, and the sacrifices she made. "She woke me up at 4:30 in the morning and we'd sit there and go through my lessons," he told the crowd. "And if I grumbled, she'd say, 'Well, this is no picnic for me either, buster.'" In the film, his wife Michelle described falling in love with her husband – but not immediately. "I thought 'Barack Obama? Who would name their kid Barack Obama?'" Michelle said with a grin. And Barack, looking back, had to agree: "Barack Obama – that's a killer," he said of his name. But after several attempts, Barack told the crowd, he finally convinced his future wife to go to a meeting with him in the basement of a church in Chicago. Watching Obama speak to the members of the South Side community assembled there, Michelle admitted in the video, "That was it. After that day ... I was in love with him."

Looking Ahead in his speech, the candidate laid out what he would do for the country if elected: cut taxes for working families, get out of Iraq, end dependency on foreign oil and make affordable health care accessible to all. With words that brought the crowd to its feet, Obama appealed to the compassion of the individual. "That's the promise of America," he said, "the fundamental belief that I am my brother's keeper, I am my sister's keeper." He also promised to restore the nation's reputation as the world's "last, best hope." When the speech was over, vice presidential nominee Joe Biden and his wife Jill joined Obama, Michelle, Malia, 10, and Sasha, 7, on stage as fireworks went off and streamers poured down.

As Jill Biden wiped away tears, the little girls in pink dresses played with confetti and waved to the roaring crowd. The nitty-gritty of the campaign would begin again the next day, but walking off the stage, the first African-American nominee for president, surrounded by his family, turned around and took one last look at the historic scene. political editorcelebrating Africa

NOLLYWOOD ACTRESS,UCHE ELENDU

2008-09-16T13:33:00.000-07:00

How is life and the acting career treating you?

Cool. The acting career is fine as well, although I’ve been on a little break since I got married in February. I traveled. I have not been around; I took some time off to be with my husband because he lives outside the country and I also have to take care of myself.

How is married life treating you?

Well so far so good. I am still very young in marriage but so far so good, no bitter experiences yet. And I hope it goes on like that.

How did you meet your husband?

Funny enough, my husband was a fan of mine. He just kept calling me and all that. At first I was like ‘uhn…’ you know the usual thing. Sometimes, he will call and I will tell my PA to pick the call and tell him that I am busy. I did not know he was so serious. He saw me on screen and just said this is my wife and so he was bent on seeing me and getting me no matter the situation and I really gave him a tough time, but he was really bent on meeting me at all cost. One day he actually came to my base in Owerri and that day I was less busy and bored and I said okay come over to my house, let me see who has been calling me and all that. Then he came and got talking, I found out that he is my kind of person; very interesting, calm and all that. From there we just got hooked up ‘cos we knew we were meant for each other and here we are today.

Precisely when did you get into the acting profession?

I did my first movie in 2001/2002 but after that movie, I left the industry to face my studies squarely. I wrote my final exams and after then, I came back in 2004.

What is the title of the movie?

Fear of the unknown.How did it feel acting for the first time along side professionals?I did not really have any stage fright or camera shyness. The experience was really nice because I was working with very accommodating people and with the way I got into acting: it was my friend’s father that produced the movie.My friend asked me to help her deliver a letter to her father, Larry Koldsweat and I went there and I met him with Olu Jacobs and we got talking and they were like, this girl is going to make a good actress. They gave me script to read, I read it just like a joke and they said they will give me a role in their movie and incidentally, I was on holidays and I said, well let me just give it a try and I went and I did it well because I was working with very accommodating people like Edith Jane Azu, Olu Jacobs and Francis Agu of blessed memory. It was really a very nice experience and that was why I made up my mind to go into acting fully.

What is one good thing that acting has done to you?

If it wasn’t for acting, do you think I would have found my husband (laughs). Sometimes I just sit down to think about it, you know. If I was not an actress, would he have found me? But maybe he would have because God says for every woman, there is a man. So that is one good thing that acting has done for me. Another thing it has done for me is that it has made me realize who I am because with exposure, you get to see a lot of things. If I wasn’t an actress, I probably would not have known that I could handle some certain things because I would not have been exposed to them. It (Acting) has opened a lot of doors for me. Acting is my career and it has done a great deal for me.

What about marriage, what good has it done to you?

Marriage has given me a sense of responsibility. It has made me fulfilled as a woman.

So is your husband romantic?

(Laughs) Well he is. To me, he is. He is just my kind of man.

Who is your kind of man?

My kind of man is gentle, understanding, and tolerant because I have a lot of mood swings. He also has to be God fearing and hard working and my husband is very hardworking. He doesn’t give up, he always get what he wants.

Does he watch your movies?

A whole lot, he does.How does he react to your sexy roles, when you are kissed or smooched on set?(Laughs) It is funny because all the while I have not noticed anything different in his reactions when he is watching my movies. But recently there was this movie I did and I was in some romantic world with a colleague of mine, we were just sitting down watching the movies and we were gisting and laughing and all of a sudden , he was so interested in that part. I was trying to draw his attention away from the scene but he was so engrossed that all of a sudden he just became quiet and went to his room. I did not want to talk about it so I did not know if he felt jealous about it that he reacted that way or maybe because there were other people who were probably watching to see his reaction. I really don’t know. My husband is cool with my job. He loves my job and he doesn’t really have a problem with it.

Have you been faced with any embarrassing situation for playing a particular role in a movie?

I really don’t get embarrassed by my fans because most of the time, I know what to expect from them so I don’t find it embarrassing although, some other person may find it embarrassing. I can remember one occasion after I did a movie titled ‘Last Occult’ where I played a very occultic witch goddess. Then I was talking with a friend, I was actually kidding with her. I was telling her that I will deal with her and behold a woman emerged from no where and called her to a private discussion warning her to be very careful with me that I am a very dangerous person. She told her that I am a goddess of an occult that I could actually harm her that she saw me in the movie that I did and she knows that if I do not have anything to do with occultism, I would not have been able to act that part that well. My friend and I started laughing when she told me, but I did not find it embarrassing because I expect things like that from fans.

How many movies do you have to your credit?

Sincerely I have lost count but I know that I have more than fifty movies to my credit.

When you started out on your acting career, were your parents supportive?

My mom was supportive from the start but my father at the beginning was not very happy about it. When I did my first movie, my mom and I kept it to ourselves. We did not tell my father because he was transferred to Port Harcourt then while we were in Lagos and I begged my mom not to tell him. So I went and shot the movie. When the movie came out, my dad was at home one day watching TV and he saw its preview and saw somebody like me and he was like, ‘is this my daughter? No, it can’t be’. And because there was no hint; he never suspected anything like that until he saw the big banner in Port Harcourt and he saw my face there. He called me and asked me if we did any film in our school because he felt I would not leave school for anything. Then I had to tell him the truth, then he spoke to my mom and he was not happy about it. That was why I had to go off the scene after my first film before returning in 2004. After I finished and he saw that I am becoming successful in what I do, he did not have a choice than to support me and now they are both in support of everything.

What is your view on sexual harassment?

There is sexual harassment in every sector of life. In the banks, corporate world, any where you can think of. It is there. It does not only happen in Nollywood. I’ve never experienced any although I have been hearing of it. I don’t also see it working because after sleeping with whoever to get the role and the person is not good enough for the role, nobody will want to throw his or her money away because of some minutes of sexual pleasure. So whoever is playing a role has to truly merit it. The person has to be able to deliver and sell the movie. Many different people work on a movie; like the director, producer and all that so it will not work because movie making is not a one man thing. I don’t believe in sex for roles; I don’t think it works.

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2008-08-26T10:52:00.000-07:00

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STEPHANIE OFORKA--CURRENT MOST BEAUTIFUL GIRL IN NIGERIA

2008-08-02T05:08:00.000-07:00

Stephanie Oforka, the current Most Beautiful Girl in Nigeria (Universe) is just 19. But even at this age, the Geology undergraduate of the Federal University of Technology, Owerri knows what she wants in life.

Studying a course many people would describe as ‘serious’, not many would expect Stephanie to leave her studies to partake in beauty pageant.

Indeed, she told Spectacles that her participation in the contest was more of an accident.
“I didn’t plan to go into a beauty pageant, it just happened by chance,” she said. “A friend of mine said I could do it and she encouraged me to go in for the MBGN. That was how it happened. I never imagined going into it in the fist place.”
But she got into it and was lucky to pass all the screening exercises before the event. But then, she did not win the contest. Rather, she emerged the first runner up. But she said she was not disappointed coming second.

“I believe that God has a plan for everyone. Everybody said they thought I would win on that night. But I didn’t believe in myself that much, so I considered coming that far a blessing. I was happy to be on the stage as one of the two people left after the other girls had been screened out and some were named as winners of the MBGN Tourism, MBGN Model and Miss La Casera. When we got there, I knew there were five crowns to be won so I prayed that I would win one. It doesn’t matter to me that I won the MBGN Universe, because we are all queens in different ways and areas.”

Although Stephanie was highly favoured by the crowd to win the contest, many believe she didn’t win the overall prize because she didn’t wear a smiling face.
To that, she said, “That pageant was my fist time ever on a stage. I am 19 years. I was nervous and shy. It wasn’t because I was not happy that I didn’t smile, it was because I was so nervous.

On a normal day, I laugh and smile. On stage, it is different because I was in front of many people and I had never done that before. I was scared, that was why I didn’t smile.”
Now that she has become a queen, Stephanie now smiles a lot. “After the competition, we went through a learning process and I learnt how to feel free. I was a very shy person; I didn’t know how to talk to people. And if I saw a camera before me, I ran away. But now I am bolder and can smile in front of people.”

Her selection as the MBGN (universe) gave her the ticket to represent Nigeria at the Miss Universe contest held in Vietnam. Unfortunately, Stephanie did not make the first ten, let alone winning the crown.Still, she said she was not disappointed, describing the experience as awesome. With it, she has learnt to accommodate people and make friends.
“ What I had learnt worked out, because I was able to involve myself in discussion with people I had never met before. It helped me because I made a lot of friends, which I wouldn’t on a normal day. People think I’m very arrogant and rude, but it’s because I am shy and I use that to cover my shyness. I could just sit at a place quietly and if asked a question I could decide not to answer, and people will conclude that I am rude.”

On what could have made the judges not to notice her at the international pageant, Stephanie said, “We were more than 100 gorgeous and beautiful women, so I’m sure it was difficult for the judges, because even most of the people they called were not those we expected. The first 15 people that were called were people you wouldn’t notice on a normal day. But the judges have their reasons for picking the girls they picked or maybe it has to go around the world. I don’t really know how they did it.”

Now that she is a beauty queen, Stephanie says her lifestyle has not changed in anyway. She even intends to go back to school after her industrial training, which she is currently engaged in. “I am not a different person. I will be able to relate to everybody like I used to do before. I am a queen, yes, but a queen is not supposed to be arrogant, she should be humble.”

Talking about growing up, Stephanie said she was an only child who never even knew that people had siblings until she got into a secondary school. “I grew up in Port Harcourt. It was fun. I am an only child, so I have always had everything to myself. I have had the best of life. I don’t know what it feels like to have a younger one. I thought everyone was an only child until I got to school and saw my friends with their sisters or brothers. But for me, I have been alone all my life.

But being an only child didn’t make her parents spoil her, “because my dad is a professor and he is very strict. I was closer to my dad at first, and I was sleeping in his room, until I was 15 years. I never slept in my room alone because I was always very scared. Now, I think I’m closer to my mum because she is like my best friend now.”

One would have expected her dad to get married to another woman in order to have more children but Stephanie said her father never had such a mentality.
“My dad is Igbo, but he is not into this culture thing. He was abroad for a long time and only came back to lecture at the University of Port Harcourt. I have been to my village in Nnewi South only once, and that was when he was given a chieftaincy title.”
It is very rare for a reigning beauty queen in Nigeria to admit that she has a boyfriend. Stephanie, of course, said she didn’t have one. “I don’t have a boyfriend, really, because I am an only child. My father used to lock me up in the house. I grew up on the University of Port Harcourt campus and he was scared of campus boys. I never went to parties, because I was always locked up. It was when I got to the university that I knew what party and clubbing was. So, I didn’t really have the chance to have a boyfriend. And now as the MBGN Universe, I am not allowed to have one. Maybe I would have wanted one, but then, that is not my priority now.”
Since boyfriend is not her priority, marriage is not on her to-do list for now.

“ I want to finish school next year. By then I will be 20. Then I will do my master’s before thinking about marriage. I will get married at 21. I want to have my kids early. I am matured now than some 19 year-olds. I’ve seen it all and I don’t think there is anything out there for which I should remain single. I want to grow up with my kids. At the right time, the man will come. My greatest wish is to get married and start my own family in the next two years.”
Stephanie has already mapped out what she intends to do as soon as she drops the crown.
“After my reign, I will get done with school and later start a talk show to help people that are not bold, just like I was.”

PASTOR ANSELM MADUBUKO

2008-08-02T04:46:00.000-07:00

Last week, you clocked 50 years. How does it feel to hit the golden age?

It does not feel any different. I am still the same person. It is just that my eyes are less effective. That is the only thing I have noticed. I thank God for his grace and mercy. I am trying to do some things, give back to the society, especially the less privileged. I just want to say thank you to the Lord and encourage and help those in need.

Are there certain things you do to be this fit?

I would say it is the grace of God. I work and travel a lot. But God’s grace has been upon me. I would attribute everything to Him.

Looking back, are there things you did that you wish you had done differently?

I wish I had spent more time with my kids. They are all in college abroad now. I miss them. I was too busy building the church. While they were around, I didn’t have enough time for them. That is the only thing I would call a regret in my life. I feel so bad. I wish I could make up for it, but it is not easy.

Why did you choose to be called an apostle?

I started as a pastor. I got saved in 1983. I was an architect. I loved the Lord, but I didn’t want to be a pastor. I wanted to do business and support the ministry. But several years later, things changed. I found that the Lord wanted me to build a church for him. I pastored the church for about eight years and the Lord began to tell me that my calling was beyond the local church. He told me He was sending me to the nations. An apostle means the sent one. He told me that the picture was beyond sitting down in one local assembly every Sunday morning. He told me He had equipped me with something the nations needed. So, from Year 2000, I began to travel to all the nations of the world to preach the gospel, not as a pastor, but as an apostle.

So you dumped your architecture certificate in order to become a pastor or an apostle as the case may be…

I still do architecture. It is in my blood. I still design houses. I designed this church and I designed my house. I designed the Silverbird Galleria. I do designs every day.
I advise people on what to do. Many bring their designs to me for advice.

Some people believe pastors build churches in order to make money…

I started this church 17 years ago. Seventeen years is not like today. We didn’t have many churches then. There was no guarantee that people would come to your church. It is stupid for anybody to think you are starting a church to make money. An architect stood a better chance of making money than a pastor.I was working with Tom Ikimi. He was one of the best architects in the country then. After then, I had my own practice. I had more prospects of being rich as an architect than a pastor. I went into the ministry when my practice had begun to grow. I got some good jobs. I had to abandon some after the church started. I thought I could combine both, but in three months, the church expanded so much that it was so difficult to combine the two. I had to give up all the jobs I had.But if you are in the ministry because you love the Lord, God will bless you, because He is a good God.

How did your family take it when you decided to leave your profession for the ministry?

Oh my God! My father disowned me. How could I, after spending all his money to train me in the university for six years, come out and say I was going to be a pastor? My wife said she wasn’t ready to marry a pastor. She said she married an architect and not a pastor. I tell you, it was not easy. Everybody revolted. My friends thought I was crazy. You know we have dreams. You sit down in the beer parlour and you dream of how you will live your life. Then all of a sudden, you want to be a pastor. It was not easy. But I loved the Lord so much that I didn’t care about what anybody said. Even if the ministry didn’t work, I wouldn’t have regretted it.

We learnt you started with Chris Okotie’s Household of God church…

I didn’t start with the Household of God. I started with Christ Chapel, where I stayed for three years and six months. Okotie started his own church. Because we were friends from the university, he had stayed in my house, and when he came back from bible school, it was only natural for me to join his church when it started.

Were you a pastor then?

No, I was still an architect. Myself, Chris, his wife then, Tina and Taiwo and Bimbo Odukoya were the fist members of Household of God Church. We cleaned and arranged the church for the very first service. Chris made me the head of the deliverance department.
I served in Household of God for three years and six months, not as a staff, but as a volunteer.

Did you leave because you wanted to have your own church, just like your friend?

No. I left when it was time for me to leave. Remember I told you I didn’t want to be a pastor. I didn’t go to a bible school. Circumstances led to my leaving the Household of God.

But are you still friends with Pastor Chris?

Oh yes. He is my very good friend. He was my best man during my wedding and I was his best man as well.

We learnt you were once a DJ…

I was everything. I was a young man growing up. I wanted to taste life and I had an early run. I got into the university at 18, and at 20, I became the director of socials. It exposed me to a lot of things. After that, I became a DJ with Radio Nigeria. I was a part-time presenter of a disco programme. I was also a DJ at nightclubs. Then, I became a master mixer. My father was a member of the Lorji cult. When I was 21, he initiated me into the cult. I became a Pyrate on campus and I ended up as the head of the Pyrates confraternity at the Enugu Campus of University of Nigeria Nsukka. I was a Capone. I saw life too quick. When I was 25, it was as if I had seen everything. That was when I got saved.

Then life must have been very sweet…

Oh yes. It was very sweet. How did you know? But I thank God for everything. The events made me become who I am today. I have seen everything. There is nothing new again to me. I smoked everything and I drank excessively.

What about women?

I was a crazy Casanova. I was a stupid playboy. I was terrible. I broke a lot of hearts, I tell you.
But you didn’t break your wife’s heart…
No. She refused to get her heart broken.

How did you meet her?

My wife was my friend’s girlfriend.
You took your friend’s girl?
Yes. I liked challenges. I didn’t want easy- to-get girls. I wanted girls who had serious boyfriends so that I could take them away from their boyfriends. She came to my house with her boyfriend and I liked her. I took her number and I found myself calling her. I invited her for a weekend and she came and that was it. She never left again.

So how did your friend take it?

That had always been my trait, so they knew I could do something like that. He really couldn’t do anything. We have been married now for 24 years.

And how has it been for the past 24 years?

It has had its ups and downs but it has been good. I married at 26 and I was very matured. I married because I didn’t want to continue playing. I had a very bad reputation and I was determined to correct that impression. So, we got into marriage and it was rough, because we didn’t know anything. But God helped us. It is better now than it was when we got married.

Did you become born again because you were frustrated with life?

No. Things were very fine for me. I just finished my youth service and I had even started working with Tom Ikimi. I had it all. I had seen life. It was just that I was tired of the bad things. I was tired of the night boogying, I was tired of the Pyrates and I was tired of Lorji. I was even tired of women. So, what else was left for me to do?

Why did you join the cult in the first place?

I thought it would help me to become rich quickly. It is rich men that enter the cult. I thought of all the connection I could get, so I had to join.

Were you threatened when you left?

Oh yes. I spent five years in the cult and they felt I was going to expose all their secrets. Even with the threats, I was not scared because I knew nothing was going to happen to me.

What of your father, did he eventually leave the cult?

Oh yes. At first, my father was scared I was going to die. But when nothing happened to me after I pulled out, he pulled out as well. He was saved. He even lived up to 70 before he died.
As a man of God, do you think it is ideal to leave your calling and run for a political office?
It depends on God’s calling. God can call anybody to do anything. God is not a stereotyped God.

But don’t you think a pastor would lose focus doing the two?

If God called you, you would not. The problem we have is that most of the politicians we have are not called and there is no grace to back them up. They get into a system that is messed up and the system sucks them up as well.

So, if God calls you to run for a political position, you will go…

I will obey God. But I pray He doesn’t.

How do you cope with ladies that dress to seduce men in church?

A man that has a problem with what a lady wears is not well. That means that the person ought to jump into the river because naked people are everywhere. They are in TV, magazines and even on the streets. You have to get to a point where you train yourself not to be moved by things like that. The power of holiness is stronger than sin. When a man makes up his mind to live a life that is pleasing to God, such things do not move him. I don’t care about how ladies dress. It doesn’t get inside of me. I am delivered from that. I am delivered from alcohol. I stay with people who drink alcohol and it does not bug me. I stay with people who smoke and womanise and I don’t feel like joining them. I see women as either my mothers or my daughters.

But have you ever been tempted?

Why not? Who is not tempted? You get tempted but you try not to fall.
We hear your wife is actually the one in charge of the church. She determines who gets what.
A church is not a ministry of local government. People report out of ignorance. There is a structure in place in the church. We have pastors in the church and she is one of them.

But we hear she sacks people anyhow…
It is not like that. Nobody has been sacked in the last 10 years, apart from those that stole.

You obviously have it all, what more can you ask God for?
I just want to know Him more. I don’t want money and fame. I just want to know Him more.

OBAFEMI MARTINS LOSES MUM

2008-07-24T14:57:00.000-07:00

Mother of Obafemi Martins, Nigerian international footballer, Alhaja Sherifat Martins, is dead. She was aged 60She died this morning at the Joedan Hospital, Orile Iganmu, where she was rushed to after she allegedly collapsed at her residence, kilometre 15, Badagry Expressway, Orile Iganmu.

NFC investigations revealed that Alhaja Martins was rushed to the hospital around 6.30 a.m. and was later confirmed dead by the doctor.Chief Imam of Nadwad-ul-Ahli mosque at 57, Igbosere Road, Lagos Island, her mosque, Abdul Rahman Lawal, who confirmed the death to us, said he was told that Alhaja Martins collapsed after inhaling fumes from a burning petrol tanker which fell and caught fire at Orile Iganmu this morning.

She was reportedly rushed to the hospital where she was confirmed dead. When NFC visited her residence at Orile Iganmu, sympathisers were seen moving in to console some of her children and relations.Nurses at Joedan Hospital, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told us that the hospital was not the first place the deceased was taken to, adding that by the time they brought her to Joedan, she was already dead.Two senior sisters of the deceased, Risikat and Mutiat Shonibare, denied that the deceased died as a result of the fumes she inhaled from the burning tanker.According to them, Alhaja Martins, after observing her morning prayers, was going to visit one of her daughters when she collapsed in the car. “She was immediately taken to the hospital,” Mutiat Shonibare said.NFC gathered that the corpse of the deceased was immediately taken to the Victoria Garden City (VGC), Lekki, residence of Obafemi Martins, accompanied by her daughters.

Further investigations revealed that the Newcastle United Star had been notified of the death.Obafemi Martins, it was learnt, told his relations that he would be arriving tonight from London and that the burial of his mother should be postponed till tomorrow.

9ICE WEDS OLUWASEUN PAYNE

2008-07-20T10:45:00.000-07:00

The early morning drizzle was totally unexpected. The night was warm, and as dawn approached, there was no sign rainfall was approaching. Well, it didn’t rain, after all. It was just the drizzle, rushing and consistent, that created a community of droplets on windscreens, and left many commuters half-wet.

It was Thursday July 17. To many, this was just another day. But to close friends and family members of 9ice, the intermittent drizzles on a morning the weather man predicted as ‘warm and sunny’ were a sign that this was no ordinary day.

The 28 year old singer finally took the bold step, last Thursday, as he walked down the aisle with his fiancée Anthonia Oluwaseun Payne. While most of his female fans and admirers were still asleep, curled up in bed and listening to the radio, 9ice took close friends and family members to a registry in Surulere local government where he exchanged wedding vows with ‘Toni.
9ice announced his engagement to Toni early this year, promising they would tie the knot before year-end.

His bride, a US-based entrepreneur returned to the country last Monday to prepare for the wedding. The couple arrived the local government secretariat, at a few minutes before 9 am, in the company of family members and bodyguards. 9ice looked smart in a black suit while his bride wore a white V-neck gown.

Quiet and devoid of all fanfare, the wedding lasted for half an hour, as the registrar Mrs Tola Awoliyi counselled them, made them sign the wedding register and exchange rings. At about 9:30am, she pronounced them husband and wife: ‘may I introduce to you, Mr and Mrs Abolore Akande’, she told the excited audience, as the hall was overtaken with wild jubilation. 9ice and Toni shared a kiss, clinging to one another for more than a few minutes.

The formal wedding at the registry was later followed by a traditional wedding at Abiona close, off Falolu Street, Surulere, Lagos.

Sources close to the couple revealed to Glitz Beats that they may not be going on honeymoon immediately, as 9ice has a multitude of engagements to honour. ‘They’re planning to spend sometime in the UK and the US from August. I guess that’s the only time they’ll have to honeymoon’, the source said

THE MAN BEHIND DAAR COMMUNICATIONS--AIT

2008-07-20T10:40:00.000-07:00

The story of DAAR Communications Plc has always been fraught with mixed feelings of excitement, hope, as well as trepidation.

Depending on where they belong, many people are of the opinion that Ray Power and African Independent Television have offered enough room for the public to aspire to greatness, not just within the African continent, but the world over, which the television station is set to venture into in a few weeks’ time.

The chairman of the outfit, Chief Raymond Dokpesi, who has been the driving force behind the success of private broadcast media in the country, says that there is always a need to continue to push whatever one believes, in even in the face of adversities.

According to him, ”We want Nigerians to aspire to greatness and this is possible. For some of you, you will recall that the development aspect of Daar Communications faced a lot of challenges around the year 2000, when we had receiver managers take over the premises of Alagbado in Lagos. And a lot of people thought that was the end of the organisation. After all, they said private broadcasting would never thrive in Nigeria and that it was absolute madness. It was the desire of the government at that time to really bring Daar Communications and private broadcasters to their knees.”

The Edo State born high chief, whose organisation has provided a platform for the downtrodden to see the good, the bad and the ugly sides of the government, believes that getting to the stage where the television and radio outfits are today, has been through miracles and the love God has for Nigerians, who believe in the cause of justice.

With nobody to look up to as a godfather, Dokpesi says, “My mother only sold akara in Ibadan to see us through school. I believe every Nigerian should be given the opportunity to aspire for greatness without looking for a godfather.”

Recalling some of the sad experiences, he says it is “unnecessary for one to be looking for gloves and a ring after God had fought for him,” adding that “we can only glorify, thank God and everybody that saw us through the challenges at that time.”

He says the intention of the Daar management its at inception was to meet the minimum five years requirement that the Security and Exchange Commission placed for a company to have operated as a private limited liability company before going to the stock exchange.
Speaking with satisfaction on the success of the company’s initial public offer, he says, “Well, I do not have to sing the praises of Daar Communications to mention all the firsts and all the ground-breaking efforts that we have gone through. Those are easy to find. But, significantly, we have tried to change the face of broadcasting in Nigeria.

“We have paid our dues and we will continue to pay our dues. We went to the stock exchange believing very strongly that the ordinary people of Nigeria have faith and confidence in Daar Communications. What we have done on their behalf is an indication that the airwaves do not belong to us. They belong to the Nigerian people. We are just holding it in trust for all Nigerians.

Let me reiterate also that the offer proceeds will be applied very strictly and prudently.”
On the immediate and future plans for the much expected multi-channel pay station that will beam the country and the continent to the world, he says the best in broadcast and digital transmission equiptment are already on the ground to make AIT the station to beat in the whole of Africa.

He adds that the multi-channel project will begin test-transmission in August, while the official take-off will be September. This much was revealed when journalsits were conducted round the various studios that had reached advanced stages of installation. “But the good point is that every item that is required is already on the ground. We are starting with 40 channels. It is going to be transmitting on high definition. It is quite challenging. We are launching broadcasting at a different pedestal,” he says. “The multi-channel, pay TV platform will be taking off from Abuja. We are also looking at totally transforming and upgrading the facilities in each of the stations across the country from analogue television broadcasting to full digital TV platform. Not only in terms of the studio facilities, but the whole entirety of broadcasting for all our stations across the country. “We will also look at the issue of building a film village in Lagos to enhance our capacity to undertake some productions, not only movies for sale to other people, but also for our own television consumption. We are looking at TV consuming content and enhancing, uplifting the standards for us to come at par with modern day television broadcasting in any part of the world.”

The success of Daar Communications, he says, will also be tied to the golden jubilee of television in Nigeria next year. Dokpesi says, “We are looking forward very strongly to bringing Nigeria‘s glory in broadcasting back to its proper place. Nigeria, in the continent of Africa, started TV broadcasting in October 1959, but, today, we have to depend on South Africa and other African countries for modern day television broadcasting. We want to play our small role in ensuring that Nigeria‘s honour and glory are fully returned and also re-establish the leadership role we ought to be playing in TV broadcasting in the continent.”

From all indications, it is obvious that Dokpesi’s projection for the multui-channel station is to have a number of stations wrapped into one in such a way that a viewer would hardly bother to switch to another television station. He says, “We are going to be looking at the entertainment sector. We are bringing in a number of channels that have to do with movies from Hollywood, Bollywood, and Nollywood. In the UK, AIT Moviestar is already making waves. Ecostar in the US, we are having discussions to have both AIT general entertainment channel and Moviestar bundled together for the American audience. For news, we have quite a number of channels that are coming in. There is also a lot of sport. In the nearest future, we want to build up documentaries on West African history.”

The eight channels from Daar Communications, which include the 24-hour AIT News, will use correspondents on the ground in South Africa, Kenya, Egypt, Ghana, Senegal, together with US Bureau and UK Bureau. ”In addition, there is going to be a children channel. We have about 12,000 hours of children programmes that we have acquired, total library that we have taken on. From the last quarter of October when all our network stations would have been on stream, the whole face of AIT would totally transform. Whether we will be able to have sufficient advertising support is what I have left to the financial people to look at. But, for me, the entire dream of transforming and strengthening and upgrading the face of television would have been substantially achieved,” he says. ”There is going to be Sahara 1 for the Indian loving people; from the US, Fox Sky is coming in, as well as detective stories. This is the rationale behind some of the structures we are putting up here in Abuja as the headquarters of Daar Communications.”

His vision to see the Nigerian project work and the need to create a platform that can successfully launder the image of the country and by extension the continent, is exemplified in his belief and preparedness to work with perceived competitors in the industry
According to him, “I do not have any objection to even have NTA on the platform. It is just a matter of Africanising and bringing in to our people those things that are indigenous to us, thereby supporting their growth. “When the offer proceeds come in, they can only go further in enhancing and consolidating our giant strides. It was an offer at give-away price, but we will see how it goes,” he says.

THE MAN ANTAR LANIYAN

2008-07-19T01:17:00.000-07:00

What does the name Antar connote?

That has to do with the story of my birth. İt is the name of an animal ‘Egoana’. My parents didn’t see anything wrong in giving me that name.Does your character correlates with that of the animal?There is a story around it. İ overstayed in my mother’s womb. İ stayed 18months and my poor mother feared she would die with the pregnancy and she was going all over the place then making consultations, ( you know how it was at that time). So after the consultation, she was told to go and bring that animal, so people had to go haywire searching for the animal. They found it, and l think they made concoction out of it and she was forced to eat it; probably the animal was not edible, l wouldn’t know. She took it and l came out easily.

Tell us your experience as a movie director

İts been okay. İ feel good and everyone in my position should be grateful to God as it is but you don’t get to this level if you laze around; you have to work hard. There are somethings some people do and you don’t that takes you to a level as this. Even if you don’t have money, you get to a certain level and you see yourself as “okay”. İf l am not a king atleast l am a kingmaker.

How true is it that you abandoned acting for movie directing?

That is not true. İ still act. Just last week a film was released and l featured in it and there are some that are yet to be released. İ spend two weeks directing Super story and two weeks outside. At the moment, l’m outside and will be back there in a forthnight. So l have time for directing. People think super story comes out every week so Antar must be very busy to be able to meet the Thursday recording. They don’t know that l record super story in bulk; l may have 13 episodes on ground, so l have enough time to do other things especially acting.İ’m very much into acting its just that when you get to certain level in your career and you don’t just accept any script. The script that comes your way should be something that when you partake in it, you won’t disappoint your fans. (Those who have been following you since 16 or 20; l started acting when l was 16). People follow your career and as you grow they grow and the love they have for you increases. Taking part in things that has no value leaves them disappointed. There is this film by Muka ray and Affizco just released. Those were nice scripts l took part in. İ recieved text messages, people say “it is good”. That is the kind of thing l want. In the English movie genre people think if they bring scripts to me for acting or directing, they believe l will turn it upside down. But of course l will when it is necessary.İ am not taking over your job as a writer but if there is a fault, let’s point it out so that we don’t turn out something bad in the industry. That is all l am for and that is why you see Super story going high up like that. There is the freedom to correct, good cameramen, then you debate, and bring people to criticize it, so you can do better next time. There is nothing bad in that. How do you relax with these tight schedule?When l’m not working, l come to the office or l sleep on my bed, watch television, then go back to bed. They knock to bring my food, l eat and sleep again. They will say “Daddy, your food is ready”, and l will say “Bring it now”. That’s probably because the next week, scripts will be coming for Super story and l will be busy for another two weeks, l won’t have that pleasure.

How has working with Wale Adenuga Productions been?Superb!

There is nothing like it. İt is just good because you have room to express yourself as a director and actor.Do you have a permanent contract with the production outfit?İ won’t put it that way. What l know is that l work with him as a contractor. There is a new script on hand, l am shooting at a certain time, l get there, collect the script, work on it, and before you know it, we are on the field. So its contract. İ am not a permanent staff neither l’m l a temporary staff because l’ve been working with him for eight years.

Coming to the “home front” tell about your wife and how you met her?

Hmmm! Despite my ability to act and be a disciplined director, people don’t know l’m a very shy person. My wife and l met somehow. She is a no non-sense woman. She really gave me tough time. Even though l was already a star then, my stardom didn’t work. İt was the person in me; not Antar the star or actor that worked. İntially, the guy in-between us came to me and said she said “what if he is a star”, if he cannot come by himself, then let him go to hell”She is a gentle woman, a mother, because as l said, one day when l lost my mother, she was there. She was the one running around to get things done. So l said “Now you are my new mother, and she accepted and she has been doing fine”. There is no way one will not feel the absence of his mother, but there is a mother in my wife.

What is view about your career?

İf people say l am successful, then she is the pillar behind my success because with God choosing her for me, and no problems from her, because if she had been giving me problems, maybe l would not concentrate and l won’t have a grip on what l am doing.What do you think can make a successful actor or director?Hard work! You have to work hard and learn everyday. You don’t think you know everything just because people are praising you. İ study everyday. İf there is any book on directing, l pick it up study it and pick something out of it.

Do you have regrets or coslty mistakes you’ve made in life?Mistake?

No. İ see myself as a very deep person. Apart from the fact that when l was a boy, l wanted to be a soldier and since my focus turned to theatre, l have not had any cause to regret. Even when there was no money, l was in it, when every other person left, l went to school to study the same thing and came back there. So l have not done any other thing outside theatre. There is no regret. I think if l come again, l will still opt for theatre. İ see it as the only path God has chosen for me to express mysel. To bring out some messages God wants to pass to people.

MY RELATIONSHIP WITH INI EDO---PHILIPS EHIAGWINA

2008-07-19T00:59:00.000-07:00

I met her during one of my visits to Nigeria. I saw many good qualities in her, we clicked and now, the rest is history.

Most people have the impression that Ini was friends with your ex-wife, Ruth and that she snatched you from her.

I’m hearing that for the first time. They have never been friends. It was just recently that Ini informed me that this was the same girl who reached out to her on her myspace page, courting her friendship under the alias ‘Christel’. She told Ini that she would reveal her real name in due time. This was as far back as January 2007. we have records to prove. So, that story is just one of her fabricated stories to get sympathy from the press. (Here is an excerpt of the mail Ruth, a.k.a Christel, sent to Ini on her myspace page on September 15,2007: “Hi Ini, I have information that you are having an affair with my husband, Philip Ehiagwina, who deceived me for a green card fraud and has a pending court case with the FBI here in NYC and Crime and fraud Commission. If I were you , I would steer clear as this may affect you ever coming into this country in future. You may be held as his accomplice in this case. Information also reached me that he is flaunting flashy cars in Nigeria, cars that are supposed to be sold. Just in case he never told you, whatever he has today is my sweat; he is currently working menial jobs to earn a living. He is a sales man, working for someone and get paid a few dollars monthly. He has been deceiving girls all over the place, making them believe he has heaven and earth, but in truth, I am the person taking care of all his responsibilities which he abandoned here in New York. Philip has put me through hell. Took away my only unborn child by causing me to have a miscarriage at three months. He walked out of my life a week and few days after he got his green card. Got with a girl who he wanted to get pregnant and when she questioned his proposal, he came out open and confessed that he got married to me only to get American green card. His mistress in return got my contacts and told me everything. Even set him up and got a video coverage of his confessions and that is the proof I am using to make sure he goes to jail for his evil deeds. She called and told me everything that my beloved husband did to me after I gave up every thing to save this man’s live while he was in Nigeria.He had nothing when I met this man, but I don’t need to go there. The God that save me form a deadly cancer and gave me a second chance in life will never let Philip know peace for all the evil deeds he has done to me and for taking away my only hope of happiness, my unborn child. And now he has the heart to go around spoiling my name only to cover up for what he has done. I am only telling you this just incase you had no idea. You are not the only girl obviously, but Ini watch your back so you don’t regret, I have nothing against you but a piece of advice.I heard that you might be pregnant for him, if it’s true, good luck. Unfortunately, Philip is a cursed, am and whoever follows in his step is cursed as well. He will never know peace as long as God is concerned and as long as there is something called REPERCUSSION. I called your manager and told her everything. You are a very pretty girl and should know how to respect your body and pray for the right husband. Do not be carried away by flashy things cause that could be deadly too. All that glitters isn’t gold, remember. Philip is a devil in a human flesh. Have a blessed day, Ini from Christel NYC.”

We have read all the interviews granted by your ex-wife regarding how wickedly you treated her. Now, can we hear your own side of the story? Why did you leave her when she was supposedly ill and pregnant for you?

Let me set the record straight. I did not leave her until everything went out of control. Before I joined her in America, she brought in a boyfriend of hers to live with her. She called me Nigeria to say a ‘male friend’ of hers from Ghana was about to move in with her. I warned her against it, but she did not listen. The guy in question ended up moving in and her friend who shared the apartment with her was subjected to move into the living room. From what I heard, they lived like husband and wife. Sharing the same bed, taking showers together and your imagination at this time is as good as mine. How can a married woman do such a thing?When I got to America in August 2003, I met her in the hospital. She was in a coma for two months as she battled with leukemia. I was cleaning her up with my hands. When the doctors said she had a small chance of surviving, I told them they were lying. I prayed day and night for her recovery. The staff at the hospital thought I was going crazy, but God answered my prayers. When she got out of the hospital, I was the one there to help her. Her friend, Ijeoma, can confirm all these things I’m telling you. I can give you her number so she can tell you with her own mouth. How was I wicked to her?On the issue of pregnancy, what kind of man would have a heart to abandon a lady carrying his own child? I recall her saying she was pregnant sometime in 2005. this was right after she got back from Ireland. Before leaving for Nigeria, I made arrangements for her to travel to Ireland to stay with my elder brother as she was recuperating from her illness and I did not want to leave her by herself. Shortly after she got back, she told me she was pregnant. My question was how? Ruth and I never had sex prior to her ‘pregnancy’, so how could she have gotten pregnant? The Bible did not make me understand that a second Virgin Mary was going to come.We don’t understand how you can be married to someone and not have proper sex. How is that possible? Ruth had some medical issues that needed to be addressed. Let’s leave it at that. Please, I don’t think it would be good for me to put her business out there simply because of the present situation.

She said you dumped her just after you got your American papers, is it true?

That’s a lie. When we got married in 2002, I meant to keep to my vows. Besides, at the time we met, she did not know the colour of the US passport. Every now and then, she would mention she was born in America. She told me she was brought back to Nigeria when she was just seven months old. All she had was her birth certificate. Anyone with your best interest would encourage you to take advantage of your opportunity and relocate to America. I took her to the Embassy. She told me she had been turned back several times. Her father would not cooperate because he did not want anything to do with her, so we threaten to make a case that he abandoned her in Nigeria, before he obliged and sent the information the Embassy needed. We got married before she left ( four years after we met). So, you can see that our marriage was not about ‘pali’ (papers). I had genuine affection for her, that was why I did everything I could to make her happy. When she got to America, things changed. How can a married woman leave her matrimonial home to strip in a club? I recall an incident that happened when she found out I sent money to my mother. It was just $400. Ruth called the cops on me. When they asked her if I touched her, she said ‘no’ but I sent money to my mother without informing her. They said ‘Is that all?’ she said ‘yes’. They could not believe it. Still, I endured because I wanted to believe she would change.During the time we were married, she made several attempts on my life, both physical and spiritual. I remember and incident when I woke up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom and I saw Ruth standing and staring at me. She was crying. I asked her what the matter was and she said ‘nothing.’ Okay, come and go back to sleep. She was still sobbing. The following day, she came to me confessing that , that night, she was going to stab me to death and kill herself. While she was staying at my brother’s place in Ireland, his young kids at that time, they were about three and five. In the middle of the night, they would shout, “Daddy, Daddy! See Auntie! Monster, Monster, Snake! Snake! She was sharing the same room with them. This went on repeatedly, night after night. It took my brother a long time before he could share it with me. Now, please, put yourself in my shoes, u no go pick race? The last incident that broke the camel’s back was when I found out that she slept with my supposed ‘best friend’. No man would take that, so I filed for divorce. She was not brave enough to come to court to defend herself. The divorce was finalized and granted on the basis of infidelity on her part. So, how did I dump her?What about the story of her picking you from nowhere? Are you reading the question the other way around? With all modesty, I come from a very comfortable home. I am the youngest of nine children, so my elder ones made sure I never lacked. Ruth and I met shortly after my graduation in 1998. She met me living comfortably. I paid for her GCE exams and even took her to sit for the exams. When we saw she couldn’t make it, I struggled to help her gain admission at the Polytechnic, Ibadan. I paid for her tuition and provide money for her upkeep. I was not rich per se, but I was comfortable to the extent that I could take care of her. There was nothing she asked me for that I did not provide. If I had money for it, I made it available to her. At that time, she had just one outfit; she would wear it during the day and wash it at night, so she could wear it the following day. I changed all that. Even when she relocated to America, I was sending money to her from Nigeria to pay her bills. I met her in America earning minimum wage at a thrift store in New York. All her visits to Nigeria were funded by me, so I take that as an insult. Now, she goes around saying she is a top model based in New York and has modeled for Victoria Secrets. I also heard her tell people she has worked with Beyounce. Na beans? I can go on and on, but I don’t want to give the impression that I am putting this out now to get back at her. No! That is not the case. This young lady has gone all over the place granting interviews to tarnish my image and that of my fiancée with all her lies. It’s not fair. Let the truth be told!

What is exactly your relationship with Emeka Ike and Jim Iyke at the moment?

I don’t want to go into that.How long were you separated form Ruth before you met Ini?Two yearsSo, why is this woman so angry with you? Were you separated form her but still initiating sex?Initiating sex with who? Ruth? With all these diseases we hear about today? If I left her because of her adulterous ways, why would I want to go back to her for sex?Your wedding to Ini is coming up in some week’s time, have you tried to reach out to this lady to make peace? I don’t have problems with her! She is the one fighting me when the reverse is supposed to be the case, because she deceived me. I just want her to stop asking her cohorts to contacts me. Less than two weeks ago, I was in New York with my wife’s manager, Joy Onyeukwu, when I received a text message and the message was: “I hate your family because they can’t advice you. Ini will bring death to you if you marry her. Go back to your ex-wife.” I showed it to Joy. I will give you her number. You can call her and confirm. So, these are some of the things I am dealing with. How can there be peace? I want her to know that my wedding will hold and no amount of threats will change my mind.

Ini has a controversial image, how have you been able to manage all the stories surrounding her?

The truth is that people don’t know Ini. They just carry fake rumour about her and no thanks to some reporters who carry news without verification. I got to see a different side of her when we started dating. Now, we’ve had cases of reporters coming to apologize for the wrong reports they wrote about her. This year alone, we’ve had more than four cases like that. For instance, one day we were home together, I received a call from someone who called to report that he had sighted Ini engaging in an immoral act with another female in Owerri. But funny enough, she was right next to me. So, I asked the guy to hold on and handed the phone over to her. Once she came on the phone, he hung up!Early this year, a young woman was arrested by the police for impersonating Ini to extort money?She was arrested and taken to “Area F”, Ikeja. AGN President, Mr . Ejike Asiegbu, was there with our reporter who covered the incident. You can call them and confirm. Tomorrow, someone will start a story that Ini collected money from him and did not show up. That is how these controversial stories start.

Are you officially divorced now? When did the divorce come through?

Yes, I am. The divorce was finalized last year. I have the certificate to show for it. Many couples end up interwined in each other’s careers, do you plan on managing Ini Edo or will she be involved in your business?I don’t intend to manage her because she already has a manager, but I’ll be involved in her business because she is my wife.Do you think you can handle the fame and attention from the opposite sex that comes with Ini’s career or will you ask her to quit acting after the wedding? Fame and attention from opposite sex will always be there, but I love and trust her, so I am not in anyway intimidated. I can afford to set her up in any business venture she chooses to go into, but acting is a career path she chose for herself long before I met her, so why would I want her to quit a profession that she enjoys?

From all the stories peddled about Ini, how do you both manage the issue of trust?

Like I said, I love and trust her and I know she will never do anything out of what we both agree upon.Your first marriage failed and a lot of stories have been peddled that you were the reason it did. How do you plan to ensure that the next one does not fail ad well?I wasn’t the reason why the marriage failed. While we were married, she left matrimonial home to strip in clubs there in New York. Gold is appreciated by those who know the value. Now, I have found love with someone that loves and appreciates me and I believe our union was ordained in Heaven. It won’t fail. No one gets into marriage planning for it to fail. You go into marriage to nurture a life long relationship. As long as we stay strong and serve God faithfully, it won’t fail.

What is your source of livelihood?

Your ex-wife fingered you as someone involved in dubious business.I export cars to Nigeria to sell. My business is registered in the State of Texas and I pay my taxes, so what is dubious about that? Talking about dubious, do you know that Ruth used my personal information to file for her taxes for 2007? I went to my accountant’s office to file my taxes only to be told that my Social Security Number had already been used. We are divorced and she has no legal backing to do that. She went as far as forging my signature to get the tax done. Now, the IRS has gotten involved and they are investigating the matter.

Are you being investigated by the FBI as revealed by your ex-wife?

Why will the FBI investigate me when I am not involved in any illegal business? She is so stupid for saying that. The FBI will not tell you when somebody is being placed on the investigation list. The other day, she had a male friend of hers call me, He said, this is the FBI, I need your address. I said, “What for?” He said, “They want to conduct an investigation on you and they need your address to write to you by mail.” I cursed him and hung up on him. How can FBI call you to get your address? Does it make sense?

We hear you have already taken drinks to Ini’s family home, what was your impression of her family?

They are a great family! I can only liken it to mine and I am so happy to be part of such a wonderful family.

Will you relocate Ini to America after the wedding or will you relocate back to Nigeria?

Ini and I will both decide on that.

HAPPY 40TH BIRTHDAY,PASTOR PETERS

2008-07-08T11:16:00.000-07:00

HAPPY 40TH BIRTHDAY,PASTOR PETERS.MAY THE GOOD LORD BLESS YOU.

A surprise birthday party was organised by his loving wife Mrs.Ronke Peters.

Zimbabwe in crisis

2008-07-06T15:59:00.000-07:00

The crisis in zimbabwe have deepen has Police in Zimbabwe said Friday they have put seven opposition members of parliament on a wanted list, a development that is likely to further dampen the possibility of talks between President Robert Mugabe and his rivals.

Robert Mugabe won re-election as Zimbabwean president in a controversial and disputed election.

The seven lawmakers are wanted in connection with crimes ranging from inciting public violence to attempted murder, said police spokesman Wayne Bvudzijena.

The African Union issued a resolution this week urging dialogue between Mugabe and opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai, head of the Movement for Democratic Change, to end violence that has plagued the country. The AU said it hopes dialogue may even lead to a national unity government.

An MDC spokesman said the arrests would hurt the chances of any dialogue.

"How can we go to the table when half the leadership is either on the run or in police custody?" said MDC Director of Information Luke Tamborinyoka.

The MDC has demanded the release of political prisoners as a precondition to talks with the ruling ZANU-PF party. Tsvangirai said this week that violence in Zimbabwe created conditions that are "not conducive" to negotiation

political editor

celebratingafrica magazine

MAMA G--NOLLYWOOD ACTRESS

2008-07-06T13:36:00.000-07:00

What has made you relevant over the years?

I give God every encomium I receive in the industry. I believe it has been God at work.

What makes you such a good actress?

I still give it back to God because without God, I am nothing. I believe God has endowed everybody with diverse talents. It took so long for me to discover what God has put in me, this is because of certain things around me -my religion and my kind of upbringing. I thought I was going to get too exposed if I joined the industry, so, I just concentrated more on my radio job and people were appreciating me. When I was in Radio Nigeria; I was appreciated.

Tell me about your experience at Radio Nigeria

I was a continuity announcer before I was made a producer. Later on, I was retrenched. I tried my best to get back, but they didn’t take me for reasons I do not know. I even went for a fresh employment exercise there, but they did not take me. But God later brought me into the film industry. Now, if anybody asks me to come back to Radio Nigeria as an announcer, I won’t do it. God has deposited something into everybody. I believe those who are suffering today have not discovered their talents.

When did you start acting as a professional?

I will say it goes way back because acting on radio and stage is also acting. When I was in secondary school, I was always associating myself with the drama group. I used to represent my school in festivals of art and culture, which no longer hold now. The festivals helped develop talents in children. If a child can interpret a poem, he can interpret a script. These things no longer hold; that is why our children are roaming about the streets. I later went to a teacher training college, where we did a stage play titled Hamlet, which was an adaptation from Shakespeare’s book. I was chosen to play the role of Hamlet, which was the lead role.
We did the play half way because it was a long novel. But all the invited schools were screaming that they wanted us to finish the play. We had to promise to stage another performance and during the rehearsals, the literature teacher said I should play the role half way and another lady should play the other half because the lines were many. We later invited other students from neighbouring schools to come and watch with a token gate fee. After I played my own role of first Hamlet and the other girl came up when it was time for Hamlet to come up, everybody started shouting, saying they wanted me to continue the role. Our literature teacher told them that it was because the book is voluminous that we had to share it, but the audience said we should take our time, that they would be back. That was how we had to do it for the third time and I found myself cramming the whole book easily.
The audience was times two of the previous outing because the news of the whole thing had spread. And from there, people started calling me Hamlet even as far as Enugu. I later became an announcer with Radio Nigeria, which also gave me fame in the East. I also joined the radio drama group and I was being paid in the drama group as well. My take home from the drama group was almost double my salary, so I was so engrossed that when the retrenchment came, it was a bang. But thank God for where he has placed me now.

How did you now get into the movie industry?

Actually, things became very hard at a stage. I got married and my husband got sick and it was very serious. He had diabetes, hypertension and he was always having crisis. My in-laws were not friendly at all. Since I’d lost my job, I was into everything; it was just too much struggle for me. I did birthday cakes and so many things to make money. I even joined those decorating houses for burial because I was the bread winner of the family then.
Though I had the mind of studying Theater Arts at IMT, but the year I was admitted, the school was disqualified from running the programme on the basis that their stage wasn’t good enough. So, I was given Fine and Applied Arts in lieu of Theater Arts and I majored in graphic art. It was from there that Radio Nigeria employed me when they came for a programme in the school. I later went to Enugu State University to study Mass Communication but I could not finish because I was so financially down. I stopped in 1998. Then, I found it difficult to pay my school fees and that of my children. The stress was all over me and one of my cousins advised me to stop and I stopped. But next year, I will be going back to school to study Theater Arts or Mass Communication.

Tell me more about the struggle

There was a Christmas I did not have anything, there were days we had nothing at home. We were always struggling with what my husband would eat and his drugs, my children went for days without food. I really love those children because they really stood by me.

You have not said how you got into movie industry.

That same cousin of mine introduced me to one Frank who worked with Chika Okpala (Chief Zebrudaya). He introduced me to him and they gave me one jingle to do and paid me N5000; that was the reason we celebrated Christmas that year. Before that, I had gone to a very secluded village to fast and pray on my situation and after that prayer, God was just opening doors for me. The jingle was like a windfall. And from there, the present chairman of the Actors Guild of Nigeria (AGN) in Enugu State discovered me because I played the role of his wife in that jingle. Later, when he got a contract with the Women Commission in Abuja to run a series on NTA Network for women, he gave the lead role to me.
So when we were on location, the cast and crew were asking how come I wasn’t in the movie industry since I was so good on set. They invited me to auditions and I was afraid of my association then, which is the Scripture Union. But the cast said since it was God that deposited the talents in me, it couldn’t be sinful. And true to my fear, the SU disowned me when I started acting. But from then on, people started casting me for roles.

When did you do your first home video?

That was in 1998. I did Out of Cage. There was also Amina part one and two. My roles in the past movies now encouraged the producers of Authority to give me a lead role, and that was the movie that gave me the much-needed publicity. Afterward, everybody wanted me to play lead for them and I’ve not rested till today. That is the reason I can never stop giving God praises. Let me tell you, my matter got so bad that my second son said during a discussion that I should stop trying because I could never make it again. He said all that was left for me was to raise them to the level where they could cater for me. I told him to keep quiet because once there was life there was hope. Now, if I remind him, he will say he said it as a child. I am happy, not because I am making money, but the fame that is making me happy. There are people who expect me to be on screen most time. That is why if I have fever or malaria, I still want to go on set. Let me use this medium to appreciate my fans, they are the reason why I’m still acting.

With all of this, what did you learn from life?

I have learnt that God will never abandon anybody. He has a plan for every individual. Once there is life, there is hope. Don’t lose hope there is more to life.

I learnt you later lost your husband

Yes.

Is that the reason you put so much of yourself into movies when you play widow?

Well, they say experience is the best teacher. He was sick for quite a long time. I thank God for his life. He eventually died on January 27, 2002.

How has life been without him?

His vacuum is there, but we have to forge ahead.

How many children do you have?
I have four biologically and some other dependants.

Why do you want to go back to school?

I like education and I don’t think age is a barrier. I want to make a statement that what I could not get in education then I can get now. Anything could happen in the future and I don’t want anything to be a barrier. I believe the higher I go, the more impact I make in the movie industry.

Are you planning to remarry?

Never. I’m married to my first son.

What is your greatest fear in life?
Dying without Christ. I wouldn’t want to die without God.

VENUS WILLIAMS CAPTURED HER FIFTH WIMBLEDON CHAMPIONSHIP

2008-07-06T13:15:00.000-07:00

Venus Williams captured her fifth Wimbledon title by beating her sister Serena 7-5 6-4 in a high-quality final at the All England Club on Saturday.

The 28-year-old becomes one of only four players to have lifted the trophy at least five times in the Open era.

Serena made a ferocious start, forging a 4-2 lead, but Venus clawed her way back to 4-4 before breaking at 6-5 to snatch the first set in 53 minutes.
Both players maintained a high standard throughout in blustery conditions, but Venus had the edge when it counted.
She sealed victory when Serena sprayed a backhand into the tramlines but her celebrations were muted as she approached the net to give her sister a hug.
”I can‘t believe that it‘s five. When you‘re in the final against Serena, five seems so far away. She played so awesome so it was really a task,” said Venus, now a seven-time Grand Slam champion.
”It‘s unbelievable that I have won five, especially with some of the injuries that I‘ve had. To know every time I come back I have the chance to make history. I love this place.”
Serena had beaten her sister in their two previous Wimbledon finals in 2002 and 2003, but she admitted Venus had deserved victory.
”She was a little better today. It didn‘t work out the way I planned,” she said.
”It‘s a great celebration for our family, we‘re really happy. I‘ve been working really hard and I‘m so happy at least one of us was able to win.”

The sisters have always struggled to produce their best against each other but their seventh Grand Slam final exceeded all expectations.

The competitive tone was set early in the way Serena took on Venus‘s serve from the outset and broke in the opening game thanks to a stunning backhand winner.

She pressed home the advantage by holding to love and if there remained any doubt that there would no quarter given, it was banished when Serena approached a short ball and hit it straight at her sister - with Venus somehow putting away the volley.
Serena had a point for a 4-1 lead but Venus saved it with another deft volley.

Venus clawed her way back to 4-4 but then have to save another two break points before the crowd witnessed the first sign that the two competitors might be related.
Serena hit a backhand which she thought was going wide, audibly admonishing herself as she did so, but the wind kept the ball in, and the umpire was forced to call a let.

ANOTHER DEATH IN NOLLYWOOD,ALADE AROMIRE

2008-07-06T13:02:00.000-07:00

The curtain fell suddenly, finally, on one of the leading lights and pioneer of Yoruba home video industry, Muyideen Alade Aromire. Aromire was the first Nigerian to own a vernacular pay television channel, Yotomi TV.

He died on Friday night at the Soleye Hospital, Ikeja, after he was reportedly hit by a trailer along the Lagos-Ibadan expressway.
Aromire was said to be returning from the site of his new house along the expressway, which he had planned to move into on July 15.

Prior to 1984, film lovers in Nigeria made do with cinema houses for their movie entertainment until Alade Aromire produced the first made-in-Nigeria home video titled ‘Ekun.’ The production of ‘Ekun’ on VHS format opened a new chapter in the evolution of home video film industry in the country. According to him, he borrowed N27,000 from his parents to produce that first movie. It was premiered at Super Cinema, Lagos in December 1984.

The name, Alade Aromire, rings a bell in the Yoruba movie industry and television broadcasting. One of the second generation home video producers of the Yoruba extraction, Alade, as he was popularly called by his fans, was prolific.
Before he disappeared from the scene a few years ago for reasons he described as "personal," the artiste told Sunday Sun that he had to his credit more than 200 films, including appearances. He bounced back on the entertainment scene with Yotomi Television, the nation’s first vernacular pay channel.

His quest to improve on what obtains in the film industry took him outside to West Germany, as it was known then. In Cologne he enrolled at a Goethe College there originally to study their language, but while there, he discovered they ran a crash programe in film and television production specifically for foreign students and lectures were delivered in English.
The course lasted three months. Afterwards, he was posted to Dutch Willlick Television Village on the outskirts of Dortmund. While at the place, he made up his mind that, if his hosts could run a television station based on their own dialect of Dutch language, he could do something similar when he got back to Nigeria. He returned and started Yotomi TV. By the time he died on Friday, a restless man, Aromire had made forays into real estate with his Yotomi Estate.
He was a songwriter, scriptwriter and an entertainer.
W

hen Sunday Sun contacted Adebayo Salami (Oga Bello) he said he received the news with great shock. "I am really perplexed, infact I am really really disturbed, I don’t know what to say. As I am talking to you I am in shock. Alade was somebody everybody loved in the movies industry, he was very very innovative. For him to just die how is too painful. We are going to miss him".
When probed further concerning the recent deaths in the entertainment industry, Salami said that it is because entertainers are popular.
"People die in other sectors, but because we are in the eye of the public that is why people give it a spiritual connotation."

Also Prince Jide Kosoko (President of the Association of Theatre Practitions, ANTP) said: "It is a shocking thing to have lost him to the cold hands of death at this stage. The man was too young to die at this moment, but what can one do?”
“Alade pioneered home video in Nigeria. He was a focused man, who knows his onions. He was industrious and very friendly. He meant different things to different people. You know he was my brother I will really miss him greatly."

When asked about the spiritual interpretation about the deaths in the entertainment industry he says "lawyers, drivers and other people to are dying. "There is no spiritual thing to it, man will die at his own time. I am only praying to God to give us long life."

AFRICAN LEADER AT 90,NELSON MANDELA

2008-06-27T14:57:00.000-07:00

NELSON MANDELA AT 90.THE MAN WHO FOUGHT SELFLESSLY FOR THE AFRICA RACE.

Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela was born in a village near Umtata in the Transkei on the 18 July 1918. His father was the principal councillor to the Acting Paramount Chief of Thembuland. After his father s death, the young Rolihlahla became the Paramount Chief s ward to be groomed to assume high office. However, influenced by the cases that came before the Chief s court, he determined to become a lawyer. Hearing the elders stories of his ancestors valour during the wars of resistance in defence of their fatherland, he dreamed also of making his own contribution to the freedom struggle of his people.
After receiving a primary education at a local mission school, Nelson Mandela was sent to Healdtown, a Wesleyan secondary school of some repute where he matriculated. He then enrolled at the University College of Fort Hare for the Bachelor of Arts Degree where he was elected onto the Student's Representative Council. He was suspended from college for joining in a protest boycott. He went to Johannesburg where he completed his BA by correspondence, took articles of clerkship and commenced study for his LLB. He entered politics in earnest while studying in Johannesburg by joining the African National Congress in 1942.
At the height of the Second World War a small group of young Africans, members of the African National Congress, banded together under the leadership of Anton Lembede. Among them were William Nkomo, Walter Sisulu, Oliver R. Tambo, Ashby P. Mda and Nelson Mandela. Starting out with 60 members, all of whom were residing around the Witwatersrand, these young people set themselves the formidable task of transforming the ANC into a mass movement, deriving its strength and motivation from the unlettered millions of working people in the towns and countryside, the peasants in the rural areas and the professionals.
Their chief contention was that the political tactics of the old guard' leadership of the ANC, reared in the tradition of constitutionalism and polite petitioning of the government of the day, were proving inadequate to the tasks of national emancipation. In opposition to the old guard', Lembede and his colleagues espoused a radical African Nationalism grounded in the principle of national self-determination. In September 1944 they came together to found the African National Congress Youth League (ANCYL).
Mandela soon impressed his peers by his disciplined work and consistent effort and was elected to the Secretaryship of the Youth League in 1947. By painstaking work, campaigning at the grassroots and through its mouthpiece Inyaniso' (Truth) the ANCYL was able to canvass support for its policies amongst the ANC membership. At the 1945 annual conference of the ANC, two of the League s leaders, Anton Lembede and Ashby Mda, were elected onto the National Executive Committee (NEC). Two years later another Youth League leader, Oliver R Tambo became a member of the NEC.
Spurred on by the victory of the National Party which won the 1948 all-White elections on the platform of Apartheid, at the 1949 annual conference, the Programme of Action, inspired by the Youth League, which advocated the weapons of boycott, strike, civil disobedience and non-co-operation was accepted as official ANC policy.
The Programme of Action had been drawn up by a sub-committee of the ANCYL composed of David Bopape, Ashby Mda, Nelson Mandela, James Njongwe, Walter Sisulu and Oliver Tambo. To ensure its implementation the membership replaced older leaders with a number of younger men. Walter Sisulu, a founding member of the Youth League was elected Secretary-General. The conservative Dr A.B. Xuma lost the presidency to Dr J.S. Moroka, a man with a reputation for greater militancy. The following year, 1950, Mandela himself was elected to the NEC at national conference.
The ANCYL programme aimed at the attainment of full citizenship, direct parliamentary representation for all South Africans. In policy documents of which Mandela was an important co-author, the ANCYL paid special attention to the redistribution of the land, trade union rights, education and culture. The ANCYL aspired to free and compulsory education for all children, as well as mass education for adults.
When the ANC launched its Campaign for the Defiance of Unjust Laws in 1952, Mandela was elected National Volunteer-in-Chief. The Defiance Campaign was conceived as a mass civil disobedience campaign that would snowball from a core of selected volunteers to involved more and more ordinary people, culminating in mass defiance. Fulfilling his responsibility as Volunteer-in-Chief, Mandela travelled the country organising resistance to discriminatory legislation. Charged and brought to trial for his role in the campaign, the court found that Mandela and his co-accused had consistently advised their followers to adopt a peaceful course of action and to avoid all violence.
For his part in the Defiance Campaign, Mandela was convicted of contravening the Suppression of Communism Act and given a suspended prison sentence. Shortly after the campaign ended, he was also prohibited from attending gatherings and confined to Johannesburg for six months.
During this period of restrictions, Mandela wrote the attorneys admission examination and was admitted to the profession. He opened a practice in Johannesburg, in partnership with Oliver Tambo. In recognition of his outstanding contribution during the Defiance Campaign Mandela had been elected to the presidency of both the Youth League and the Transvaal region of the ANC at the end of 1952, he thus became a deputy president of the ANC itself.
Of their law practice, Oliver Tambo, ANC National Chairman at the time of his death in April 1993, has written:
To reach our desks each morning Nelson and I ran the gauntlet of patient queues of people overflowing from the chairs in the waiting room into the corridors... To be landless (in South Africa) can be a crime, and weekly we interviewed the delegations of peasants who came to tell us how many generations their families had worked a little piece of land from which they were now being ejected... To live in the wrong area can be a crime... Our buff office files carried thousands of these stories and if, when we started our law partnership, we had not been rebels against apartheid, our experiences in our offices would have remedied the deficiency. We had risen to professional status in our community, but every case in court, every visit to the prisons to interview clients, reminded us of the humiliation and suffering burning into our people.
Nor did their professional status earn Mandela and Tambo any personal immunity from the brutal apartheid laws. They fell foul of the land segregation legislation, and the authorities demanded that they move their practice from the city to the back of beyond, as Mandela later put it, miles away from where clients could reach us during working hours. This was tantamount to asking us to abandon our legal practice, to give up the legal service of our people... No attorney worth his salt would easily agree to do that, said Mandela and the partnership resolved to defy the law.
Nor was the government alone in trying to frustrate Mandela s legal practice. On the grounds of his conviction under the Suppression of Communism Act, the Transvaal Law Society petitioned the Supreme Court to strike him off the roll of attorneys. The petition was refused with Mr Justice Ramsbottom finding that Mandela had been moved by a desire to serve his black fellow citizens and nothing he had done showed him to be unworthy to remain in the ranks of an honourable profession.
In 1952 Nelson Mandela was given the responsibility to prepare an organisational plan that would enable the leadership of the movement to maintain dynamic contact with its membership without recourse to public meetings. The objective was to prepare for the contingency of proscription by building up powerful local and regional branches to whom power could be devolved. This was the M-Plan, named after him.
During the early fifties Mandela played an important part in leading the resistance to the Western Areas removals and to the introduction of Bantu Education. He also played a significant role in popularising the Freedom Charter, adopted by the Congress of the People in 1955.
In the late fifties, Mandela s attention turned to the struggles against the exploitation of labour, the pass laws, the nascent Bantustan policy, and the segregation of the open universities. Mandela arrived at the conclusion very early on that the Bantustan policy was a political swindle and an economic absurdity. He predicted, with dismal prescience, that ahead there lay a grim programme of mass evictions, political persecutions, and police terror. On the segregation of the universities, Mandela observed that the friendship and inter-racial harmony that is forged through the admixture and association of various racial groups at the mixed universities constitute a direct threat to the policy of apartheid and baasskap, and that it was to remove that threat that the open universities were being closed to black students.
During the whole of the fifties, Mandela was the victim of various forms of repression. He was banned, arrested and imprisoned. For much of the latter half of the decade, he was one of the accused in the mammoth Treason Trial, at great cost to his legal practice and his political work. After the Sharpeville Massacre in 1960, the ANC was outlawed, and Mandela, still on trial, was detained.
The Treason Trial collapsed in 1961 as South Africa was being steered towards the adoption of the republic constitution. With the ANC now illegal the leadership picked up the threads from its underground headquarters. Nelson Mandela emerged at this time as the leading figure in this new phase of struggle. Under the ANC's inspiration, 1,400 delegates came together at an All-in African Conference in Pietermaritzburg during March 1961. Mandela was the keynote speaker. In an electrifying address he challenged the apartheid regime to convene a national convention, representative of all South Africans to thrash out a new constitution based on democratic principles. Failure to comply, he warned, would compel the majority (Blacks) to observe the forthcoming inauguration of the Republic with a mass general strike. He immediately went underground to lead the campaign. Although fewer answered the call than Mandela had hoped, it attracted considerable support throughout the country. The government responded with the largest military mobilisation since the war, and the Republic was born in an atmosphere of fear and apprehension.
Forced to live apart from his family, moving from place to place to evade detection by the government s ubiquitous informers and police spies, Mandela had to adopt a number of disguises. Sometimes dressed as a common labourer, at other times as a chauffeur, his successful evasion of the police earned him the title of the Black Pimpernel. It was during this time that he, together with other leaders of the ANC constituted a new specialised section of the liberation movement, Umkhonto we Sizwe, as an armed nucleus with a view to preparing for armed struggle. At the Rivonia trial, Mandela explained : "At the beginning of June 1961, after long and anxious assessment of the South African situation, I and some colleagues came to the conclusion that as violence in this country was inevitable, it would be wrong and unrealistic for African leaders to continue preaching peace and non-violence at a time when the government met our peaceful demands with force.
It was only when all else had failed, when all channels of peaceful protest had been barred to us, that the decision was made to embark on violent forms of political struggle, and to form Umkhonto we Sizwe...the Government had left us no other choice."
In 1961 Umkhonto we Sizwe was formed, with Mandela as its commander-in-chief. In 1962 Mandela left the country unlawfully and travelled abroad for several months. In Ethiopia he addressed the Conference of the Pan African Freedom Movement of East and Central Africa, and was warmly received by senior political leaders in several countries. During this trip Mandela, anticipating an intensification of the armed struggle, began to arrange guerrilla training for members of Umkhonto we Sizwe.
Not long after his return to South Africa Mandela was arrested and charged with illegal exit from the country, and incitement to strike.
Since he considered the prosecution a trial of the aspirations of the African people, Mandela decided to conduct his own defence. He applied for the recusal of the magistrate, on the ground that in such a prosecution a judiciary controlled entirely by whites was an interested party and therefore could not be impartial, and on the ground that he owed no duty to obey the laws of a white parliament, in which he was not represented.
Mandela prefaced this challenge with the affirmation: I detest racialism, because I regard it as a barbaric thing, whether it comes from a black man or a white man.
Mandela was convicted and sentenced to five years imprisonment. While serving his sentence he was charged, in the Rivonia Trial, with sabotage. Mandela s statements in court during these trials are classics in the history of the resistance to apartheid, and they have been an inspiration to all who have opposed it. His statement from the dock in the Rivonia Trial ends with these words:
I have fought against white domination, and I have fought against black domination. I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities. It is an ideal which I hope to live for and to achieve. But if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die.
Mandela was sentenced to life imprisonment and started his prison years in the notorious Robben Island Prison, a maximum security prison on a small island 7Km off the coast near Cape Town. In April 1984 he was transferred to Pollsmoor Prison in Cape Town and in December 1988 he was moved the Victor Verster Prison near Paarl from where he was eventually released. While in prison, Mandela flatly rejected offers made by his jailers for remission of sentence in exchange for accepting the bantustan policy by recognising the independence of the Transkei and agreeing to settle there. Again in the 'eighties Mandela rejected an offer of release on condition that he renounce violence. Prisoners cannot enter into contracts. Only free men can negotiate, he said.
Click image for map
Released on 11 February 1990, Mandela plunged wholeheartedly into his life's work, striving to attain the goals he and others had set out almost four decades earlier. In 1991, at the first national conference of the ANC held inside South Africa after being banned for decades, Nelson Mandela was elected President of the ANC while his lifelong friend and colleague, Oliver Tambo, became the organisation's National Chairperson.
Nelson Mandela has never wavered in his devotion to democracy, equality and learning. Despite terrible provocation, he has never answered racism with racism. His life has been an inspiration, in South Africa and throughout the world, to all who are oppressed and deprived, to all who are opposed to oppression and deprivation.
In a life that symbolises the triumph of the human spirit over man s inhumanity to man, Nelson Mandela accepted the 1993 Nobel Peace Prize on behalf of all South Africans who suffered and sacrificed so much to bring peace to our land.

LONG LIVE NELSON MANDELA!

ANOTHER DEATH IN THE NIGERIAN MUSIC INDUSTRY

2008-06-21T13:05:00.000-07:00

Oliver de Coque a veteran muscian was confrimed dead today.In 90days the music has witnessed four deaths.First was Late Sunny Okosuns,then Steve Rhodes also Sammy Needle was confirmed death the same day as Steve Rhodes.Now Oliver De Coque,the king of highlife music.What is actuallyhappenning in the music industry?

THE REAL CLARION CHUKWURAH

2008-06-21T07:36:00.000-07:00

Money Power, was it your first movie?

It was my first movie but wasn’t my first entrance into the industry.
Between 1982 and today, tell us how it has been and all that had happened to you before now?

Since 1982 till date, it’s been explosive. It’s been from one mountain to one hill and valley and back up to the mountain.
The movie Money Power actually started everything. It started my journey to stardom, to adulthood to motherhood and through all the challenges I faced, the different views of Clarion Chukwurah that people had presented out of their own opinion that was not the real Clarion.
The real Clarion only came out through one journalist who was able to peep through and present the real Clarion.
Let’s take it step by step. Money Power brought you into stardom, adulthood and motherhood and you were barely in your teens. Can you talk about each of them from the beginning?

Yes, I was seventeen years old then. Money Power as a film, was an example of what used to happen among my teens in the acting industry then.
If an actor or actress gets into a good play with a frontline director, the right people will watch it and that could be a stepping stone for you to get to the next level.
As at that time, I was an undergraduate in the then University of Ife and we came to Lagos to perform the premier production of Wole Soyinka’s Camwood on the leaves at the National Theatre.
In that particular play we did a seven days performance and the particular performance that gave me a role in Money Power was the Command Martini performance which came on the 6th performance. The play had all the who is who coming to watch, because it was Wole Soyinka directed and it was a National Theatre production.
And unknown to me, in the audience was Ola and Francois Balogun. At the end of the play, I went to the back stage and noticed that a lot of people wanted to talk to me at once. Wole Soyinka’s mother said she wanted to know if her son sat me down to tell me the kind of person he was as a teenager because she felt that I couldn’t have acted out her emotions as I acted the role of a mother.
Until she asked me the question, I didn’t know I was performing her character and so I was like, God so that was you, that was all that you put this woman through and he (Kongi) was just laughing. Ola Balogun and his wife asked if I’ve ever done a film or been in front of the camera. I said yes that I’ve been in the front of the camera for television and also for a film that wasn’t finished.

Meeting with Shina Peters

They told me that my acting “is so fantastic” that as they watched from the beginning, the flow of emotions to end of the play for about one and half hours they saw the character of Yemi in me.
I was made to understand that they had cast the character of one Maureen for that role but seeing me perform so well on stage, and they changed their mind.
We were to do the 7th performance that night and leave for Ife the next morning and I was to come back after a week to meet with Shina Peters so we could audition together to see if both of us could flow together.
It was amazing how both of us were crying together in a scene we were lovers in the film. The character Yemi was just about my age and Shina Peters played the role of a 22 year old journalist.
Yemi’s parents were dead poor and wanted to trade her to a rich man who wanted her at all cost in exchange to settle her family. Shina Peter who acted as Jide was a poor journalist and Yemi’s father didn’t want to see him.
The story of the film was about all that Yemi and Jide went through but at the end of the day, they triumphed and got married.
The rich man who was actually the publisher of the newspaper where Jide was a reporter realising that Jide was his rival threw him out of the job and he went back to the street. Jab Adu who played the role of the editor of the Newspaper fought in vain to keep Jide because he saw no conflict between Jide’s job and his private life.
In all, it was a good movie and it gave me the opportunity to meet with the people who were at the top hierarchy in the industry then. I also got to work with Cinecraft, that had the duo of Tunde Kalani and Wale Fanu as camera crew and they were the ones who got me onto Mirror in the Sun.

Falling In Love

My falling in love with Shina Peter happened at the point we were rehearsing for the theme song. Shina produced the sound track for that movie and we recorded the song together.
The whole process started quite naturally. It began when he started buying me apples, taking me to Ikoyi Park. And by the time we were doing the shooting movie Money Power I was already two months pregnant but people didn’t know. The secret was kept between us and the make-up artist, Aunty Peju.I was still in school when this happened and naturally my mother wasn’t happy. Everybody was condemning both of us and the heat made me drop out of school. I was 18 while he was 24 when Clarence was born. We were just two young people who were in love, so the anger shown by my mother and the disappointment exhibited by all those who believed in me shattered my world at that time. And on his on part, he was admonished for engaging in a relationship with me and people like the late Chief Olu Aboderin of Punch and Chief Dapo Tejuosho advised that he leaves me alone.I didn’t want to get married to Shina because I was still young and in school. It was not something I went into because I wanted to get married, it just happened. I was just a teenager who didn’t understand what I was going into.
I actually told him that I wanted to finish school and become a big star. And he said, “you think you can become a big star just because you acted in one film?”. But deep inside me I knew I was going to make it big and this I told him. Often we’d get into argument because of this.

The Fights and the Lack of Support

Shina lived in Lagos while I lived in Ife. He will come to visit me in school and we will get into one form of argument or the other. And as soon as he leaves, I will write him a stinker and he replied saying, “I will read your letters some day to your son to explain what happened between the two of us when he was a baby.”And don’t ask if he carried out his threat because he did just that. Laughing she said, one day he stole my son and showed those nasty letters to him.
But I wouldn’t want us to talk about his role as a father because my son has asked that I stopped talking about it.
The truth is, I felt let down by Shina, but I forgave him because soon after he abandoned us, he started having problems with his career and his relationship with other women.
He was just going from one relationship to the other because of the kind of industry that juju music was then and how people like him were not given any chance by the women.
And when he recovers from any of such sour relationships, he will just show up and say he is sorry and he will disappear for like two years again.

THE SEPERATION

I wouldn’t say the industry stole Shina from me. He was already deep into it when I met him but today, Shina Peters remains my first love and we are still very good friends. We talk, crack jokes together, abuse each other playfully and so on.
But all the fights that happened between us are in the past. Right now I have a very wonderful and caring man in my life. A man who has accepted me for who and what I am.

The role of the Media

At a point my career went down in the early 90’s for three reasons. First the industry was going through the metamorphosis of the era of the Soap Opera to Home Video. The change saw new people coming into the industry and it also saw the emergence of the coming in of the Igbo entrepreneurs who depended on the directors they had and people they knew.
Secondly, Shina Peters made a come back and felt that the only way he could get favour was by running me down in the press. I was having a really bad press.
The press boys were those press close to Shina and they felt that Shina Peter had a vendetta with me and they were giving me a lot bad press. On his part, Shina fueled the situation and that didn’t help at all.
At that time I was financially down and I needed him to take care of Clarence (his son) and the woman in his life then was scared. She felt that I wanted to come back and reap where I did not sow and all that.

Getting Married

I got married to Tunde Abiola and had two kids, a girl whom I lost after seven weeks and a boy (Bode).
I lost my daughter the previous year, because I didn’t breast feed her well enough. And I didn’t breastfeed her because I didn’t want to lose my figure immediately I had her. So because of this I told myself that I wasn’t going to work so I can give Bode all the care he needed. Bode’s father was very supportive and I was never lacking financially.
Two years after, I went to work on the English stages to save enough money and get more formal training as an actress. This lasted for six months.

The Return of Queen Clarion

My come back was achieved largely because of my acting ability. When I came back, the first three movies I did were to play sub roles but before the movies were half way through, the producers and directors just realised that I had taken over the lead role.
You need to remember that I was coming from a long way back, so I was bringing with me a lot of experience, skill, training and don’t forget also that it was not easy to have acted on stage for white audiences as a black. You will virtually get no laughter or applause, to succeed you have to be really good to get the applause. So I was coming back with that strength that I had used to conquer the white audience.

Falling from Grace to Grass and back to Grace

When I became broke and couldn’t cater for myself and my son like I said earlier, I had to look up to Shina to at least cater for his son. And that decision turned out to be a very fatal action. The media feasted on me.
It was terrible, so terrible that I took to drinking and smoking packets of cigarettes like hell. But I never taught about killing myself because of my son.
My father died when I was very young so I didn’t want to leave my son (Clarence) to go through what I went through. I wanted to be there for him and I was also praying because I have always had this feeling that God loves me. I will sit down and ask God, why? .
I had this never die spirit in me and I survived, but it was hell. When I walk the streets, people looked at me with disdain and disgust, as if I had shit all over me. And all those places and people who saw me like that, I always go around them. In my heart I was like, keep looking at me and you are going to see me become big soon.
Today I have seen some of the people who rejected me and called me names coming back to get my acquaintance and want to identify with me. And I will look at them and laugh (because I know it’s not by my power but the mercy of God that turned things around for me) but I don’t push them away.

The movie industry

The return of the older generation of actors and actresses is a pointer to the fact that the industry is beginning to mature and ready to move to next level. It’s only in this country that you see colleagues (younger ones) wanting older colleagues to leave the industry for them because they feel that you have been there, but this idea is very sickening and shows their level of mediocrity.

The Clarion Chukwurah Helpline Initiative

The Clarion Chukwurah Helpline Initiative is not an NGO. It was inspired from when I was 19 years. I used to have this dream where I saw myself with kids and right from when I rented my first flat (I was 19 years) I’ve always had people coming to me (younger people and kids) with one problem or the other and I will go talk to their parents.
It was something I inherited from my father. My father was somebody my younger brother called Johnny Be Good.
I grew up in a home where we had people who were not related to us leaving with us and my father was paying their school fees and taking care of them. And sometimes I will get angry but I didn’t know I was the person that will take after him. Somehow he knew, because he was giving me information on why it is necessary to help others as if he also knew he would leave us early.
As the personnel manager of Sunflag Textile Mills, my father will bring bundles of clothes and while the tailor will be taking my measurement, he will also be measuring the other children on the same number of wears he was going to make for me.
And when the goldsmith comes to take my design of Jewelries he will equally take the designs for the other children and this also was very annoying.
Another thing that inspired me was that I had always been around women who really cared about the plight of abused children because when my father died we went through a lot of hard time from members of my father’s family but I don’t want to talk about it because they have pleaded with me to stop talking about it. But the fact remains that they didn’t do the right thing for me and my brother.

The project and the journey so far

Clarion Chukwurah Helpline Initiative is a project that will eventually metamorphose into the Clarion Chukwurah Foundation for the less privileged children, and youths especially the physically and mentally challenged and the abused ones. A lot of people in this country have so much sad stories to tell that will make you understand that there is a mass responsibility between Nigerian men and women when it comes to their offspring.
I started running this project with money from my pocket and I’m still doing that till date. In the few months we’ve operated, we have worked with the Arrows of God Orphanage Home, Olusoye Compensatory Centre for children and youths with learning disability, Juvenile welfare centre, Heritage Orphanage homes, Modupe Home for the mentally and physically challenged, Compassionate Outreach and also homes outside Lagos, Kogi and Kwara States amongst others.
The objective of the foundation is to let people know where these homes are, what they are going through so that they can go personally and directly to help them and also to get the Federal Government to pass an annual grant bill and make state government to pass same bill and compel them to inculcate children into the Ministry of Women Affairs so as to assist them. Support for the Organisation
God has been our support and when we now bring people to see these homes for themselves, they now start supporting the homes.
They give directly to the homes not to me. People like Chief Mrs. Essien- Igbokwe has been very helpful to the homes.
She got involved in the Entertainers Star Trek we had on Childrens’ Day and she has been doing a lot to help the homes.
Mr Andre Gbinige has also been very supportive to the Arrows of God Orphanage, as he organised a party and visitation for them. Jimmy Jatt was also there with us on Star Trek.
Funmi Tejuosho, the deputy speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly came and supported the heritage homes. Abike Dabiri, Chief Mrs Adunni Bankole came and with two imported boxes of new cloths from England for the children and youths of Modupe Home.
The Clarion Chukwurah Helpine Initiative is out to make people see these homes and when you see, your mind will tell you what to do.

TIME OUT AT SHEERNESS ON SEA

2008-06-21T05:51:00.000-07:00

Sheerness-on-sea a village below sea level.Full of different tourism attractions.A very exciting village to have your hoilday.

HILLARY CLINTON ENDORSES OBAMA

2008-06-07T15:03:00.000-07:00

It was indeed a much awaited moment today for hillary clinton to supend her campaign and endorses barack obama in a much emotional speech delivered Sen. Hillary Clinton on Saturday formally ended her bid for the White House, bringing an end to her historic run by endorsing Sen. Barack Obama.

After months of primaries and caucuses, the Democratic party still does not have a nominee.

The road to the nomination has been fierce. The two have endured preacher-gate, Bosnia-gate, a bitter battle over the race card and other controversies that have framed this race.

From a crowded field of Democratic candidates taking the stage for a debate a year ago to the final two nominating contests that few thought would be contested, Obama and Clinton have battled it out to the end.

Clinton has become the favored candidate among working-class voters, women and the elderly, while Obama has emerged as the choice for well-educated, affluent voters, African-Americans and the younger crowd.

The contests come to an end Tuesday, exactly five months after a much wider field faced off in Iowa's first-in-the nation caucuses. There was Obama, the junior senator from Illinois, campaigning on his message of change. There was Clinton, the New York senator and former first lady, who had been a prominent public figure for years and was favored to win it all.
Former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards was also considered a top-tier contender. Edwards, running on his populist message, was the vice presidential candidate on the Democratic ticket four years earlier.

The voters joined the best political team as voters in the final two states cast their ballots.Tuesday, 8 p.m. ET.Repeat runners Sen. Joe Biden and Rep. Dennis Kucinich were back for more. Biden went after his party's nomination in 1988, and Kucinich sought the top spot in 2004. New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson and Sen. Chris Dodd also threw their hats in the ring, and former Sen. Mike Gravel embarked on a long-shot run. And then there was speculation that Al Gore would enter the race as the candidate who would unite the party's disparate factions.
This was wishful thinking perhaps from the legion of Gore supporters still frustrated by his razor-thin loss to George Bush in 2000.

Gore stayed on the sidelines as did Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry, retired Gen. Wesley Clark, Wisconsin Sen. Russ Feingold, Indiana Sen. Evan Bayh, and Virginia Gov. Mark Warner.
Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack got in, but got out early enough that his presence in the race is often overlooked. When the field of candidates was settled, it was apparent this was going to be a race pitting Clinton versus Obama.

Obama scored the opening win, forging his way to the top of the democrat pack. Biden and Dodd called it quits. Despite all the hype surrounding Obama's victory and his inspirational speech that followed, the momentum quickly switched to Clinton.

Clinton, who finished third in Iowa, made a surprise win in New Hampshire even though polls going into the contest showed Obama with a double-digit lead. New Hampshire, which brought an end to Richardson's campaign, crowned Clinton the "comeback kid" -- a phrase coined for her husband in the 1992 race -- and she took the next two contests in Michigan and Nevada.
Obama then scored a huge win in South Carolina, forcing Edwards, a South Carolina native, to reassess his campaign.

The Democrats next faced off in Florida. The state fell into Clinton's column and quickly became the center of a months-long delegate controversy.

The Democratic National Committee stripped Florida and Michigan of their delegates for scheduling their primaries too early. Clinton won both states, but the candidates had agreed not to campaign in either state, and Clinton was the only top-tier candidate on the Michigan ballotAs Obama amassed wins, Clinton pushed hard to get the states' delegates seated, and on the last day of May, the DNC decided to reinstate the delegations, with each delegate getting a half a vote at the convention.

The move did little to change the state of the race -- one that has been a Clinton-Obama battle since Edwards dropped out shortly before Super Tuesday.Most thought Super Tuesday would decide the outcome, but the two front-runners split the 23 Democratic contests that fell on February 5.

The presidential hopefuls each argued their wins made them the stronger candidate: Clinton was winning the bigger states, but Obama was winning more states.
The candidates soldiered down the campaign trail, with stops to explain, denounce and detach themselves from some of their surrogates along the way.

After Super Tuesday, Obama went on a monthlong sweep, taking Louisiana, Nebraska, Washington, Maine, the District of Columbia, Maryland, Virginia and Wisconsin.
He established a comfortable lead in pledged delegates, but Clinton maintained her lead among superdelegates.

Superdelegates are party leaders and officials who vote at the convention for the candidate of their choice. Because neither candidate will get enough delegates from the primaries and caucuses to clinch the nomination, the final decision will rest in the hands of the superdelegates.
Obama's winning streak left pundits questioning Clinton's viability, and even Bill Clinton said his wife had to win Ohio and Texas in order to keep her campaign alive.

Once again, she bounced back.

Clinton picked up important wins in the Ohio, Texas and Rhode Island primaries March 4. Obama won Vermont and the Texas caucuses. The next week, Obama won Mississippi and Wyoming.

The Democratic race was in limbo, and there was a six-week hiatus until the next contest.
Questions arose as to whether the party could unify once there was a nominee, but both candidates insisted the Democrats would rally behind whoever came out on top.
Some said the protracted battle was good for the party -- each candidate was mobilizing different parts of the electorate, and that could provide a boost in turnout in the fall.

The contests resumed April 22 in Pennsylvania. Clinton landed a big win, re-igniting her campaign. Her campaign boasted $10 million in donations in the 24 hours after her win.
But two weeks later, her momentum all but disappeared.

Obama cruised to a double-digit lead in North Carolina, and Clinton barely squeaked by in Indiana. On the eve of what was expected to be a resounding win for Clinton in West Virginia, Obama took the lead in the superdelegate count.

At the beginning of the year, he had trailed Clinton by more than 100 superdelegates.
Clinton scored blowout wins in West Virginia and Kentucky, largely due to the state's blue-collar voters. Her wins brought attention to Obama's potential problem with that segment of the electorate, but did little to breathe life back into her campaign. Clinton kept chugging along, as Obama appeared to be staggering toward the finish line.

Clinton landed another win in Puerto Rico on June 1, picking up the larger share of the state's 55 delegates. The final two contests in Montana and South Dakota offer 31 delegates -- not enough to put Obama over the edge. Still, his campaign predicted Sunday he would clinch the nomination this week, if not by Tuesday.

Obama on Sunday praised Clinton for her work in the Senate and said she was an "outstanding public servant," but indicated he's already moved out of primary mode.
"She is going to be a great asset when we go into November to make sure that we defeat the Republicans," he said.

Political Editor

Celebrating Africa Magazine

INVESTMENT---KEY TO ACHIEVEMENT

2008-06-07T14:11:00.000-07:00

MOTIVATIONAL COLUMN BY INAOLAJI OLATUNJI----A REOWNED COACH & SPEAKER

A preacher once drove by a farm, and was deeply impressed with its beauty – the shaded lawns, well cultivated crops, a beautiful home, the barns were clean, and it had a well-built fence. Just as the preacher was admiring the farm, the farmer came by ..The preacher said to him excitedly; “God has blessed you with a beautiful farm. My man “The farmer replied; “yeah, and I am very grateful for that. But you should have seen it when he had it all to himself”. The message is this, a beautiful farm does not drop from heaven .God gives the Land, the seeds, the rain and the sunshine. But someone must cultivate the farm. Sowing must precede reaping, that is one of the most powerful laws of nature. It is also called the law of cause and effect. Even Newton discovered in physics that we can only get a reaction where there is first an action. One of the most powerful truths we will learn in life is this; “You can’t get something for nothing”. Success is never an accident. What you sow will determine what you harvest. Your input determines your output.

Your investment determines your achievement. Life will only return to you what you give to it. All attempts to side-step this universal law will ultimately result in frustration. What do we have to invest? Heaven has put some powerful seeds at our disposal. For example, our minds. Thoughts are seeds. The thoughts of today are the realities of tomorrow. They may seem intangible for today. But they have a way of multiplying into our future. The quality of your thoughts determines the quality of your life. Time spent sharpening our minds is time well invested. It is good to educate the mind. To glean thoughts from geniuses through their books and tapes. To discuss with those who have achieved what we seek to achieve. And most of all, to sharpen our minds with the distilled wisdom of the ages, the Bible.

Friend, invest in your mind the quality of ideas that reflect the kind of future you desire. Also our abilities and talents should be cultivated and invested in the service of others. Proverbs 18:16 says; “A man’s gift will make room for him and bring him before great men”. Joseph in the Bible developed his abilities in administration and the interpretation of dreams as a slave and as a prisoner. He made an investment the day he interpreted dreams for pharaoh‘s chief butler in prison. Then harvest time came when the chief butler recommended Joseph to Pharaoh. Joseph interpreted pharaoh’s dreams and became Prime minister of Egypt . Joseph‘s investment was the key to his achievement. Let me ask, how many people are you touching with your abilities and talents today?

It is important that you invest in your destiny everyday. Acquire knowledge. Take that course. Read books. Associate with those who have results. Work hard for your company, be a blessing to your employer. It’s an investment. Nurture your relationships with your family, your friends. Someone you know may become president tomorrow. More importantly, invest in your relationship with God. Pray, Study the Bible. Serve God with your talents.

Finally, invest in the success of our nation. Help build this nation. Obey the rules, pay taxes due to you, and say no to corruption. Whatever is in your hand to do for this nation, do it diligently. Your seed may leave your hand today, but it will never leave your life. It will multiply into your future for a harvest.

SELF-RELIANCE

2008-06-07T13:59:00.000-07:00

MOTIVATIONAL COLUMN BY INAOLAJI OLATUNJI---A REOWNED COACH & SPEAKER

According to Bishop Oyedepo, “life is a personal adventure.” How true this is. Often our own success is dependent on the actions of others, but success is best savoured when it comes because of our very own handiwork. After all, the essence of life for us to think for ourselves, dream for ourselves, believes in what the Bible tells us to believe, and to act for ourselves.

This is why Daniel Cox, the inspirational writer, once wrote what he called “a Declaration of Personal Responsibility.” He said; “I accept full responsibility for both my successes and failures in my life. If I am not what I desire to be at this point, what I am is my compromise. I choose no longer to compromise with my potential”

You need to understand that your success is up to you and to God. Make up your mind not to blame anybody else when things don’t work out. Take full responsibility for your success or failure. God is on your side and He will move on your behalf. You will see your obstacles turning to miracles.

Consider this, however much people may love us and desire to help us, they cannot breathe for us. The truth is, we were born to live our lives independently. God wants us to focus on the things we can do, rather than the focusing on what others can do for us. You must take personal responsibility for your success. You must face challenges with strong determination. Success is a do-it-yourself affair. Don’t blame someone else and don’t blame circumstance, because you are not yet a failure until you blame someone else. It is when you take responsibility for your failures that you receive the power to move beyond those failures. Don’t blame your parents. Don’t blame your husband or wife. Don’t blame your children. Don’t blame the economy. Don’t blame your lecturers. Don’t blame the weather.

Believe that inspite of all these, you will still succeed when you take personal responsibility for your success.

Nobody is permitted to write your examination on your behalf. If that happens, it is fraud. You must write the examination yourself. Moreover, whether you pass or fail, you must take personal responsibility. In all of this, what you should bear in mind is that the indispensable factors in your success formular are God and you. When you have done what you can do, God will do what you cannot do. Try your best first, and then rely entirely on God for success.

Dear reader, recognize the fact that your destiny is in your hands. Life is largely a do-it-yourself affair. The things that are most critical to your success are things that you must do by yourself. Only you can breathe for yourself. You must eat by yourself and you must go to the toilet by yourself. Therefore, you can choose to obey the laws of success and make it big in life. Nevertheless, of course, you can also choose otherwise as many people do. These are the set of people who choose not to do anything. Not to work, not to dream, not to apply for jobs, not to study for their exams, and in fact, they can choose not to wake up at all tomorrow morning. However, whatever you choose, remember, you must take responsibility for it and for its consequences.

It is wrong for us to blame other people or circumstances for our failures because we can still make the best of every bad situation. God has put unique abilities in us, which, when developed attracts success to us.

You may not have all the education you want, you may not get all the support you expect from your parents or your friends. You may even have a job right now, but you can develop your God-given abilities. You can do something with what you have. Train the talent or ability. Develop it to world standard. Don’t give any excuses. There is the goldmine inside you. No one else will dig it out for you. As you make that move, God will move on your behalf and help you succeed.

BUILDING SELF RELIANCE

Author and Pastor, E. W. Kenyon once said; “what you do for yourself counts far more than all that others have done or can do for you.” This is very true. Self-improvement is the key.

Dear reader, you need to put yourself under mental discipline. Set a high mark for yourself. Begging as a means of survival is too cheap. Being an `area boy’ or a prostitute is even cheaper. Put a value on your life. Put a price on your time. Time is one of your most valuable commodities. Time is opportunity. Do something each day that will qualify you for a higher place in life. Let each day leave you better than it met you. Learn something new today. Read a book, and listen to a tape. Put in for a course. Learn some new skills. You must be better this year than you were last year. One day, somebody is going to pay you what you are truly worth.

In case, you think you don’t have anyone to help you today, God wants you to know that there are certain things you can do for yourself. For example, you can decide that you will make it to the top despite all odds. Psalm 27 10 says; “when my father and my mother forsake me, then the Lord will take me up.” You see, your disappointment can become your blessing if you refuse to give up. Our God who is ever so merciful and gracious will never let you down. He will promote you. He will open new doors for you and show you favour.

There are many obstacles on the way of the man who wants to succeed but he must not make them his excuses for failure. He must turn his problems into opportunities, his mistakes into miracles and his stumbling blocks into stepping-stones. What others describe as handicaps are his challenges to greater self-development. Poverty becomes a blessing to him, it teaches him self-reliance, and it fires his ambition, his desire for success. He makes up his mind to move from poverty to prosperity, he works hard, studies long hours and is very determined and persistent. He is internally motivated.

You will succeed in Jesus name

INVEST IN ZENITH BANK

2008-06-07T12:36:00.000-07:00

Zenith Bank is a fast growing bank with her headquarter located in Nigeria.In 2006,the audited and published financial reports confirms Zenith Bank as the biggest bank in Nigeria and the second most profitable.The Zenith stock has enjoyed a positive progression from N10.90 to peak at N66.14 per share before the price was adjusted for the bonus issue approved for shareholders last year, representing a total gain of over N55.24 per share in just three years.

Zenith Bank Plc yesterday announced a profit before tax of N40.63 billion for the nine months ending March, 2008, indicating an impressive 111% jump over the N19.25 billion recorded for the same period in 2007.

The bank’s unaudited results for the period, released on the floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) also showed a remarkable 70% increase in gross earnings from N70.76 billion for last year to N120.30 billion.

The result, which indicated remarkable improvement on all parameters, equally showed profit after tax rising to N33.32 billion from N14.08 billion, representing a 137% jump, confirming Zenith Bank’s position as a market leader in terms of returns on investment.

The bank, which has long held an attraction with discerning investors, has delivered to its shareholders capital appreciation in excess of 600 per cent since its shares were listed on the stock exchange in 2004.

HURRY INVEST IN ZENITH INCOME FUND AT #10.00 EACH AT PAR,ZENITH EQUITY FUND AT #10.00 EACH AT PAR,ZENITH ETHICAL FUND AT #10.00 EACH AT PAR.OFFER OPENS MAY 5TH 2008.LOG ONTO http://www.zenithbank.com/ FOR MORE DETAILS.

ALHAJI WAHAB FOLAWIYO LAID TO REST

2008-06-07T12:23:00.000-07:00

HE PASSED AWAY EARLY HOURS OF FRIDAY,10DAYS TO HIS 80TH BIRTHDAY AND WAS LAID TO REST ACCORDING TO ISLAMIC RITES AT THE CENTRAL MOSQUE,NNAMDI AZIKWE, LAGOS.

Alhaji Chief (Dr.) Abdulwahab Iyanda Folawiyo, C.O.N. is no doubt one of the icons of Nigerian industry and philanthropy, and a pillar of Islam with the revered title of the Baba Adinni of Nigeria.Born in Lagos on the 16th of June 1928, to a successful Lagos merchant, Pa Tijani, the young Wahab Iyanda Folawiyo attended Olowogbowo Methodist Primary School, Lagos (1934 - 1941) and Ilesha Grammar School, Ilesha. Chief Folawiyo who is the only African Principal Member of the Baltic Exchange in the City of London, also attended in 1951 the famous North-Western Polytechnic, London, where he read Management, specialising in Ship Brokerage. Back home in 1957, Chief Folawiyo founded YINKA FOLAWIYO & SONS, an enterprise that engages in import and export business between Nigeria and Europe.

Today, Alhaji Folawiyo’s large business empire includes holdings in shipping, banking, construction, agriculture and energy.The Yinka Folawiyo Group, of which Yinka Folawiyo & Sons Limited is the parent body, includes the Maritime Associates (International) Limited, Nigerian Green Lines Limited, Folawiyo Farms Limited, Ilora, Oyo State; Folawiyo Fisheries Limited, Yinka Folawiyo Petroleum Company Limited, United Property Developers Limited, and, the latest additions to the Group:, Yinka Folawiyo Electrical & Mechanical Company Limited, Y.F Power Limited and Folawiyo Energy Ltd. A man of many parts, Alhaji Folawiyo’s achievements in other areas are as monumental as his successes in business.

A philanthropist extraordinaire, Alhaji Folawiyo consistently offers support to religious (Islamic) advancement, educational development and sports improvement. He has contributed majorly to the construction of mosques all over the country including the Lagos Central Mosque and the Sultan Bello Mosque in Kaduna. He single-handedly financed the construction of the Surulere Central Mosque, Lagos.In Sports, Alhaji Folawiyo was the sole sponsor of the Yinka Folawiyo U-15 Athletics Championships and the National Amateur Wrestling Championships, both annual national events of many years running.

Alhaji Folawiyo is of course not lacking in his support of socio-economic projects aimed at improving the lives of the less privileged in the society. Indeed, he is one of the greatest, yet one of the most unpublicised, of Nigeria’s eminent philanthropists.He founded the Bab-Es-Salam Home which he dedicated to the upbringing and education of orphans. He has also made significant contributions to the development funds of numerous states in the Federation.In the field of education, Alhaji Folawiyo has also written his name in gold. Apart from endowing a professorial chair in Physics in the University of Lagos, Alhaji Folawiyo has contributed to the endowment funds of many Nigerian Universities and has vigorously supported research into various fields of knowledge, notable among which is the Virus Research in the University of Ibadan.

In June 1998, Chief Folawiyo became the first private individual to put together a physical structure in the University of Lagos when he upgraded the University’s Health Centre to a full fledged hospital complete with an X-Ray Unit. Alhaji Folawiyo has sponsored, and continues to sponsor, a lot of Nigerians, both able bodied and the physically challenged to tertiary institutions in the country, and has, as well, contributed immensely to primary and secondary education development funds both in Lagos State and Nigeria as a whole.

In appreciation of his immense contributions, Alhaji Folawiyo is the recipient of several honours and awards including Doctor of Law by the university of Cross River State Uyo, 1991, Doctor of Letters by Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, 1992 and Doctor of Science by the Lagos State University, Ojo, Lagos, 1998. He has a Secondary School, Wahab Folawiyo High School in the highbrow area of Ikoyi, Lagos State named after him.

Alhaji Folawiyo is the Grand Patron of Nigerian Muslim Council; Chairman, Executive Council of the Lagos Central Mosque; Honorary Fellow, Chartered Institute of Transport; Fellow, Commonwealth Journalists Association; Chairman, Maize Association of Nigeria, and Patron, Institute of Freight Forwarders of Nigeria. He was also honoured with the key to DADE County, Florida, in the United States of America.

He is the proud recipient of the national honour of Order of Federal Republic, OFR, conferred on him in 1982, as well as, Commander of the Order of the Niger, CON, on November 16, 2000. The University of Lagos also conferred on him - the Millennium Award of Doctor of Science. He was appointed CHANCELLOR, Lagos State University on 17th April, 1999. He is the Patron of the Nigerian-British Chamber of Commerce.

MEETING FUNKE AKINDELE,NOLLYWOOD ACTRESS

2008-06-01T10:46:00.000-07:00

W hy did you pack out of Akoka side?

I just wanted a change of environment. I have one or two friends where I stay; I think the place is cool. So, you’ve left your parents.No, we all moved out together.

Obviously, things are looking up, the last time we met, you were using cars for small boys like us, now you are riding a Honda Jeep.

A point of correction, that car you saw is not a small car. It is worth more than one million naira. Well, it is just an improvement; I just wanted something bigger.

It seems you are the hottest actress in the Yoruba genre of the industry. What’s the magic?

Like I’ve always said, it is all about hard work and prayer. Whatever you do just do it well because you never can tell which job might land you at the top. So, I give it to God and hard work.I know a couple of actresses who are working hard but not getting as much attention as you are?

Like I said earlier on, prayers also matter. Put anything you do before God and if it is His will, you will surely be celebrated there. The industry is large for any good actress to be noticed. I thank God I’m being appreciated.The pay must surely be good.Thank God, I’m not complaining.

People say you’ve been producing so many movies these days.

I’ve not been producing lot of movies. The only movie I have now is Apadi and it’s yet to be released. That is the only movie I’ve ever produced this year, though, I’ve acted in quite a lot of movies.

Tell me about the movie, Apadi.

It’s a traditional movie, it’s got some lesson in it and it is technically superb. It had a large cast and was shot in traditional setting of Abeokuta and Ilaro.

Who is financing your movie?

I financed Ojo Ketala myself, but my marketer, Olasco Film financed the others. He brings the fund and I produced.

You must be enjoying acting.

Yes, definitely. Acting is my first love, I didn’t get into acting because I wanted money, I just wanted to exhibit my talent. Acting has always been my first love.

But you never had the intention of becoming a full blown actress when you started acting in ‘I need to know’.

Yes, I just wanted to exhibit the talent in me. I wasn’t after making money or becoming a celebrity.

What is still there in acting world that you want to achieve?

I still have a lot to learn and achieve. When I look at the likes of Bimbo Akintola, I shiver and tell myself that I am not there yet. That is a very deep actress, I give that to her. And there is Kate Henshaw, I saw her in Show Me Heaven. That was her best. I was thrilled. I keep telling myself that I still have a long way to go.

Is winning City People best actress not coming too early?

No, I don’t think so because I’ve worked hard for it. Most of my friends and colleagues sent me texts saying I deserved it. Even people around me feel I deserved it. They gave it to me because they believed I deserved it.

What is next for you after best actress award?

I don’t know, only God can tell. I’ll just keep working harder.

Will you ever produce an English movie?

Why not? When the time comes, I will. It is just that I am sticking to the production of Yoruba movies because I understand the market.

I learnt most movies don’t sell more than 100 000 copies. How true?

I don’t think so. Ekuro, my movie sold more than that. And Taiwo-Taiwo sold more than that. I believe if you have something good in the market it will keep selling. Maybe your first batch sells within that region but later it will pick up if it is a good movie. When my marketer released Ekuro the movie sold 200 000 copies.

What point were you trying to prove in Risikat?

I was called upon to act and I did my best. The character was a street girl and always fighting, that was why I had gloves on.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MRS JULIET ONI,WIFE OF DR.FREDERICK ADELANA ONI

2008-05-31T16:15:00.000-07:00

Wife of Dr.Frederick Adelana Oni,CEO Genesis Gastroenterology llc celebrates her birthday today 31st of May 2008.

Birthday wishes from celebrating africa crew.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MRS.JULIET ONI

GOLDEN RULE---BY INAOLAJI OLATUNJI A REOWNED MOTIVATION SPEAKER & COACH

2008-05-31T16:11:00.000-07:00

Luke 6:31 in the Bible says; “And just as you want men to do to you, you also do to them likewise.”

No matter our calling in life, whether in business or ministry, or even in marriage, we need the co-operation of others to achieve success. How we treat people can make the difference between success and failure.

We may understand the principles of success. We may have a great dream, coupled with desire, courage, and persistence; yet, fail if we don’t understand human nature. Our greatest assets in the achievement of worthwhile goals will always be people. Where there is no vision, the people perish. However, it is also true that where there are no people, many visions will perish.

If you want to get the best of people, you have to believe that people are intrinsically good. Unfortunately, most of us don’t believe that people are good because we have been disappointed and hurt before. It is natural for us to conclude that people are the same. We therefore relate with people with a good measure of suspicion and distrust.

We must however, realize that most other people are good. Like us, they have just been hurt before. The only way to get the best out of them is to treat them the way we want to be treated.

Dear friend, the major forms of help God will send you in life will come in the form of human beings. Appreciate and value them. Believe in them. Treat them well. Your success will know no bounds.

DAY 2

The Golden Rule says – treat others the way you want them to treat you.

In other words, the more you help others to succeed, the more successful you become. We must learn to treat people well. It is not enough to see people the way they are, we must also see them the way they could be. We have to have enough insight to recognize the potentials in people.

Dear friend, I say this especially if you are in a position to supervise, manage or lead people. The management style that leads people by fear and intimidation has been found not to be very effective. Anybody can intimidate, but it takes a good leader to spend time with people, building trust with them and appreciating them.

You must always remember that inside every person is a winner who deserves to be treated with dignity and respect. Each person deserves to be treated as the most special person on the earth. The key to motivation is recognition and praise.

Nothing encourages people to work harder and to break their own records like having accomplishments noticed and praised.

Praise works wonders. It works better than criticism. In fact, people respond better to praise than to punishment.

If you criticize your children, or your husband or your wife, or your staff every time they make a mistake, you will have around you people with low self-esteem. Unfortunately, you can’t get the best out of such people. Dear friend, begin today. Look for something good to praise in your wife, your children, your husband, and your staff. Make a good comment about their appearance or their job. If you make them feel special, they will be happy, confident and ready to conquer the world. And you will succeed.

DAY 3

Praise is one of the strongest forms of motivation. When we praise people, they tend to do the same things that made us praise them. They repeat the successful behaviors that brought them such feelings of accomplishment. It becomes easier to get them to do what they have to do.

Praise is positive reinforcement. And positive reinforcement works far better than negative reinforcement. Dr. Mike Murdock, a reputable motivational speaker, once said; “There is a king and a fool in everyone. The one you speak to is the one who responds to you.” Think about that.

People will always rise to the level of our expectation of them. They will turn out the way we expect them to turn our.

Dear friend, we must always remember, especially when we have achieved a measure of success, that we are not more special than others. God does not value one person better than the other. If, despite our weaknesses, God has helped us, then God will help others too.

Try this, dear friend. Praise your children, or spouse, or staff, or friends in public. Don’t hide your candle under a basket. Praise them while others are there and see how it will motivate them and all those around.

Settle this once and for all – you can’t change people. You can only bring out either the best or the worst in them. Use praise to bring out the best in them.

What if they mess things up? How do you communicate that without criticizing them? Just withdraw the praise. Praise somebody else. Withdrawing praise is many times more effective than criticizing.

Dear friend, what you look for is what you find. Don’t look for negatives in people’s lives. Look for positives, there is always something good about every person.

This must be an important day for you.

As you keep that appointment or write that exam today, let’s believe that all will be well.

DAY 4

Treat others as you want them to treat you. That is the golden rule.

Therefore, don’t criticize. Rather, use praise.

In Matthew 7:1-2, Jesus said; “Judge not, that you be not judged. For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you.”

So, if you don’t feel excited an motivated when criticized, know that you can’t get the best out of others when you criticize them. You can tell people ninety nine positive things and just one negative thing, and all they will remember is the negative thing you said.

If you want to correct someone, let the correction go along with a lot of praise. Use the sandwich method. Begin with praise, make the correction, and end with praise. Leave the person with a good feeling.

Dear friend,, when you appreciate the value in people, you will appreciate in value. If you are leading a group, praise people publicly using their first names. Especially outstanding performers. Make them the center of attraction.

Learn to praise everything good about people. Praise their appearance, their attitude, their ideas, their achievements. Praise your children every time they do it right. Always compliment your spouse. The more praise you give, the more praise and co-operation you will get.

Now, be very sincere with your praise. And be persistent. You may have to praise a person 100 times before they get it right. But if you stop at 99, you may have lost them.

Above all, praise people when they have suffered a set-back and are hurting. Take their minds of their pain and remind them of their dreams. You will succeed.

DAY 5

We have been discussing the golden rule. And we have said that praise is one of the most effective keys for motivation.

People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care. And care is the basis for trust and integrity. If you relate intimately with people that you don’t really care about, you will have to live a lie. It can be really difficult to praise people that we don’t care about.

But dear friend, always remember that your most valuable assets are people. That is why your family is crucial to your destiny. Use a lot of praise at home. Build up your husband or wife and your children. Be committed to them. Be committed to your staff, too. Let them know that you will be there for them no matter what. When you expect the best from people, be prepared to give them your best.

Well, with some people it may take you a while before you find something praise worthy about them. However, remember that you now believe that there is something good about everybody. So you will keep looking for the good, until you find it. Then take time to praise it.

If you are a leader or manager, learn to pass the credit for your success to your subordinates. The more credit you give to others, the more they give you in return.

This must be an important day for you. Are you traveling? Are you attending an interview, or writing an exam? Is it your wedding or engagement, please let’s believe that all will be well.

HOW TO LIVE SUCCESSFULLY WITH HYPERTENSION

2008-05-31T16:02:00.000-07:00

Millions of people worldwide die each year from hypertension, which predisposes them to many other serious health problems. But shedding weight in combination with good diet and medications may help avoid several complications, such as heart disease, associated with hypertension, reports Sade Oguntola.

Approximately seven million people worldwide die each year from high blood pressure (hypertension), which predisposes people to heart disease and other serious health problems. While losing weight can lower blood pressure in some cases, a combination of good diet with certain medications may help reduce the risk of complications associated with hypertension.
Blood pressure is the pressure of the blood against the walls of the arteries. Blood pressure results from two forces. The heart creates one force as it pumps blood into the arteries and through the circulatory system. The other is the force of the arteries as they resist the blood flow. The higher, systolic number represents the pressure while the heart contracts to pump blood to the body. The lower, diastolic number represents the pressure when the heart relaxes between beats. While lowering blood pressure in patients with hypertension can reduce cardiovascular risks and reduce illness and death, weight loss can be a key factor in achieving that goal. A meta-analysis of 48 studies, published before March 2007, which was conducted by researchers at Medical University of Graz, Australia, and led by Dr. Karl Horvath found losing weight by pairing a healthy diet with weight-loss medication could help lower blood pressure. Of those studies, 38 assessed diet and 10 focused on medications for weight loss.

The researchers found that dieting and medication helped lower blood pressure in high BP patients. They stated: “Reduction of blood pressure was higher in patients treated with weight loss diets or drugs.” According to the authors, “a reduction in body weight of approximately 4 kilogrammes was necessary to achieve a reduction of approximately 6 milligrams of mercury in systolic blood pressure with dietary treatment and of approximately 2.5 milligrammes of mercury with drug.” The study was reported in the March 24 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

It is clear that diet affects blood pressure. Vegetarians, for example, tend to have lower blood pressures than non-vegetarians. Researchers at the Johns Hopkins Medical School reported that a diet rich in fruits, vegetables and low-fat dairy products is highly effective in lowering blood pressure. Their study involved 459 adults with systolic blood pressures below 160 mm Hg and diastolic pressures between 80 and 95 mm Hg. The fruits and vegetables diet (modified control diet) produced a drop in systolic and diastolic blood pressure of 2.8 mm Hg and 1.1 mm Hg respectively.

Experts have found that a diet that emphasises fruits, vegetables, and low-fat dairy products might act as a natural diuretic that could help many people reduce blood pressure. Results from their studies indicated that such a diet that promotes salt excretion, similar to diuretic drugs, which are widely used to treat high blood pressure by increasing urine production, is very helpful to black people and elderly people, including Nigerians. These are people found to have sodium-sensitive hypertension and whose blood pressures were very sensitive to changes in the amount of sodium intake.

As early as the 1920’s, researchers noted a relationship between caloric restriction, weight loss and a decreased incidence of hypertension. In 1988, a meta-analysis of aggregate data from 12 prospective studies, including five randomised controlled trials (RCTs), found that on average each 1 kilogramme decrease in body weight in obese hypertensive patients was associated with a 2.4 mm Hg systolic and 1.5 mm Hg diastolic decrease in blood pressure.
Experts have suspected that high blood pressure may be due to excess weight in half of overweight adults. Researchers in Italy found that about 50 per cent of overweight, hypertensive adults, ranging in age from 29 to 65 years, achieved normal body weight and blood pressure after six months of treatment with a reduced-calorie diet.
In a comment by Dr. Roberto Fogari, M.D., the lead investigator of the study and professor of medicine at the University of Pavia, Italy: “This is important because it means that in these patients with elevated blood pressure who were overweight, the blood pressure was not a form of essential hypertension but was hypertension secondary to body weight.” Fogari emphasised the importance of initiating dietary advice and treatment in overweight patients with high blood pressure before beginning drug treatment. “The first step is to help the overweight patient lose weight,” he said. “Only after six months of trying to reduce the patient’s weight can a decision be made about drug treatment.”

According to Dr. Babatunde Salako, a consultant physician at the University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan, “diet and exercises are adjunct to hypertension treatment and diet regulation alone cannot ensure proper control of blood pressure, especially if the case is the moderate to severe type.” Dr Salako said much as diet and lifestyle changes may lower blood pressure in a case where the blood pressure is mild, such an individual will equally need to be regularly monitored to see that the blood pressure remains at a safe limit. Meanwhile, dieting to lose weight may lower blood pressure in overweight people with hypertension, but effects are modest and so dieting may not be effective alone. Though a number of medications are used to try to decrease high blood pressure, people may also wish to try non-drug treatments, especially if their hypertension is mild. One alternative is losing weight, as lowering body weight may lower blood pressure. Losing weight may also lower the medication doses needed by people taking drugs to try to treat hypertension. However, weight loss alone does not signifi-cantly reduce blood pressure.

In the meantime, here are some suggestions that can lessen your chances of developing high blood pressure and help keep you healthy in many other ways as well:• Maintain a normal weight for your height.
•Exercise regularly. This can help in preventing you becoming overweight or help you in losing pounds if you need to. Exercise also helps keep your heart and blood vessels strong and healthy.
• Eat a healthy diet that includes lots of fruits and vegetables.
• Don’t smoke. Smoking and high blood pressure are major risk factors for having a heart attack or stroke later in life.
• Keep your stress levels in check. It may help to practice relaxation techniques such as deep breathing exercises.
• Decrease your sodium (salt) intake. Consuming less sodium has been proved to help lower blood pressure in some people and may prevent some from developing high blood pressure in the first place.
• Avoid drinking too much alcohol, which is associated with high blood pressure.
• Know your blood pressure. Have it checked regularly because, although high blood pressure is more common in adults, hypertension can occur at any age.