A former Vice-President, Atiku Abubakar, seems to
be in love with controversy and he appears to be a
dogged fighter in the game. In politics, he has an
ample dose of unsettled issues with the ruling
Peoples Democratic Party, especially now that he is
linked to the New PDP.
Not done with that, the other day too, he engaged
his former boss, President Olusegun Obasanjo, in a
debate about his eligibility to travel to the United
States of America.
However, just as the US dust is settling, the former
number two citizen on Tuesday stirred a fresh
debate on the social media space, declaring via a
post on his website that he bought a house for his
mother at the age of 14.
Atiku, in the blog post, said contrary to the belief
that he “soiled” his hands while serving in the
Nigeria Customs Service, as well as during his
eight-year tenure as Vice-President; he had a
history of genuine “business success.”
He said, “It never mattered that I had a history of
business success prior to entering politics. It never
mattered that from the moment I bought my
mother a home as a 14-year-old boy, I was running
various businesses to provide for my family.”
But tell it to the marines, seems to be the thinking
of the some Nigerian social media users, who
received the claim with a pinch of salt. Little
wonder, they further prodded him to explain how, at
14, he mustered the financial muscle to buy a
house.
For instance, an online socio-political activist,
Kayode Ogundamisi, is one of the first critics, who
questioned the former Vice-President’s claim.
Ogundamisi said, “How did we end up with deluded
characters as so called leaders in Nigeria. That
former Vice-President Atiku would have Nigerians
believe he bought a house for his mother as a
minor/child is a clear indication that Nigeria’s
problem is beyond human understanding.”
Another Facebook user, Adedayo Daramola
asked,“Was it through innovation or through
corruption that the former Vice-President
accomplished the feat.”
However, Ogundamisi and Daramola are not alone
in the circle of Nigerians doubting the veracity of
Atiku’s claim.
For another Facebook user, Steve Collins-Ogwu,
there appears to be more than meets the eye.
He stated, “At that age, what was he doing to rake
in cash to have been able to afford the home? The
last I checked, he was not into entertainment of any
kind or an athlete to be able to earn cash at such an
early stage. I need him to lecture me on how he did
it.”
On Atiku’s blog post also, a reader, who identified
himself simply as Inyang described the former vice-
president’s piece as “rhetoric” and called him as a
“trickster.”
Inyang said, “Sir, I pray many Nigerians will be able
to see beyond that gibberish piece of write-up and
see you for the trickster that you are. You bought
your mother a house at 14! What business brought
forth such largesse?
“I personally would like to know. Please spare us
the rhetoric and leave room for the younger and
honest blood in our beloved country Nigeria who
are out there praying for the chance to lead this
country out of the mess you and your likes have led
it. Please find a place to sit and give chance.’’
Meanwhile, Atiku on noticing the controversy his
claim had generated online hurriedly took to Twitter
to clarify his position. He said via his Twitter
handle, @atiku, that due to his “humble
background,” he took vacation jobs to fend for
himself and his family members as a teenager.
He tweeted, “It’s true I bought my mother a home
as a teenager. At 14, I was working as a clerk for
Mallam Adamu Ciroma, the District Officer in the
Ganye Native Authority. It was a temporary holiday
job.
“The house was a thatched, mud bungalow, with
two rooms, a kitchen and bathroom. It cost £9,
saved from my £3 monthly earnings. In those days,
secondary school students in long vacations took
jobs. Temporary jobs for experience and some
money, before returning to school.
“Most kids of my age bought shirts and shoes – but
my mother was homeless. So, I saved and I bought
that home for her. It is possible for people from a
humble background to accomplish great things,
even as teenagers, believe it or not.”
But even with his later clarification, many are still
not satisfied with his explanation. According to
them, the development smacks of a hidden political
agenda.
An anonymous reader on lindaikeji..com
wrote, “Why does Atiku kind of remind me of ‘I had
no shoes’ saga. Now I see someone introducing
some political emotional tactics to win hearts, a
scheming for some certain agenda!’’
Another reader on the same blog stated, “Alhaji
Atiku, I am assuming that your holidays were for a
full three months in one calendar year and you did
not pay any taxes on the money you were paid? Or
did you save over two to three years working the
same job? A likely story! The chances you guys had
then, hmmm?
“Now I’m a graduate and I cannot even afford a
day’s meal not to talk of, buying a house for my
mother as well. So much for the havoc you guys
wrecked on the system, amassing wealth for
yourselves!’’

Punch

The ultimate reason we eat is to achieve good
health and retain it. Good health also suggests
being in good mental state; because, as
psychiatrists argue, there is no good health without
mental health.
When we eat good foods, our bodies get nourished
from the head down. Eating wrong foods — such as
sugary foods — can affect the way our brain works.
Scientists say our brains need sugar every day to
function. “Brain cells require two times the energy
needed by all the other cells in the body — roughly
10 per cent of our total daily energy requirements.
This energy is derived from glucose (blood sugar),
the gasoline of our brains,” scientists say. In other
words, sugar is not the brain’s enemy; rather, added
sugar in foods is.
Research indicates that a diet high in added sugar
reduces the production of a brain chemical known
as Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor. Without
BDNF, they note, our brains can’t form new
memories and we can’t learn (or remember) much
of anything. Levels of BDNF are particularly low in
people with an impaired glucose metabolism —
diabetics and pre-diabetics —and as the amount of
BDNF decreases, sugar metabolism worsens.
What are these foods? Here are some of them:
Sugary products
The list is endless, and they include biscuits,
canned and bottled drinks, canned fruits in syrups,
sweetened ‘fruit’ juices, dissolvable powdered
drinks, candies (sweets), cakes, dried fruits, jams
and other sweetened spreads, so called energy
bars, milk shakes, etc.
Experts say it isn’t that you don’t eat any of these
foods at all; what they are concerned about is their
percentage to the content of your entire daily meal
intake, and also if your entire meal chain revolves
around these foods — as is the case with some
people.
A group of researchers, led by the University of
California Los Angeles biology professor, Fernando
Gomez-Pinilla, discovered that bingeing on soft
drinks, sweets and sugary snacks for as little as six
weeks may impair brain function.
The study, which was conducted on rats, is the first
to show that a diet high in fructose (sugar) slows
down the brain, and thus hampers memory and
learning.
Gomez-Pinilla says, “Our findings illustrate that
what you eat affects how you think. Eating a high-
fructose diet over the long term alters your brain’s
ability to learn and remember information.”
Before now, scientists had proved beyond
reasonable doubts that sugar harms the body
through its role in diabetes, obesity and liver
problems. Another study published in Psychology
Today states that overeating, poor memory
formation, learning disorders and depression have
all been linked to the over-consumption of sugar.
So, instead of feasting on sugary snacks, try
wholesome fruits.
Junk foods
As far as some people are concerned, patronising
fast food joints is status symbol and therefore a
sign of “arrival.” Well, that’s very contrary to
commonsense, as scientists claim that the bad fats
in junk foods can actually clog up the brain and
interfere with the way it sends messages. The
effects are even worse in growing children, they
warn.
According to a study published in the Journal of
Epidemiology and Community Health, the IQs of
children who ate fatty, sugary, processed foods
appeared to suffer years later, while the IQs of
those who ate healthy foods increased.
Again, researcher, Dr. Alex Richardson, of the
University Laboratory of Physiology in Oxford and
co-director of the Food and Behaviour Research
Charity, said trans fats displace healthy fats in the
brain.
She warns, “Every time children eat crisps, biscuits
or cakes, they are filling themselves with what are
essentially toxic fats. There are no health benefits
to these hydrogenated fats, yet they are all that
some children and adults are eating.
“They are replacing the essential fats that would
make their brain and body work properly with ones
that are clogging up the machinery. In layman’s
terms, the brain gets thicker,” Richardson says.
Fried foods
Besides the fact that regularly eating fried foods
can give men aggressive prostate cancer, scientists
warn that their effects on brain function are as
terrible.
A study by researchers at the University of the
Basque in Spain, published in the journal Food
Chemistry, revealed that compounds released from
common cooking oils significantly increase the risk
of neurologic degenerative diseases and a variety
of different cancers. They conclude that toxic
compounds from fried foods cause cancer and
deteriorate brain health.
Diets rich in French fries, crispy fried shrimp and
classic fried chicken, among numerous others,
could only land you in hot water, even if
metaphorically.
In the United States, for instance, many schools
have cut out fried foods in the café, all in a bid to
help kiddies’ brain power. Instead, they serve
baked chicken, baked chicken wraps, strawberries,
peaches, sweet potatoes, carrots and kale.
Experts also recommend alternate food preparation
methods such as roasting, steaming and broiling.
Salty foods
Before now, scientists had made us know that too
much salt and too little exercise are hard on the
heart. However, new research suggests that they
can be hard on the brain, too.
A three-year study of more than 1,200 people, led
by Carol Greenwood, a nutrition scientist and
interim director of the Baycrest Kunin-Lunenfeld
Applied and Evaluative Research in Toronto, has
linked a salty diet and sedentary lifestyle to
cognitive decline in old age.
In fact, scientists say salt affects your brain the
same way hard drugs do!
Of course, we don’t cut off salt from our diets
totally; rather, what we need is a balance between
things. A physician, Dr. Louise Chang, notes that the
iodine in iodised salt helps the body make thyroid
hormone, which is critical to an infant’s brain
development.
So, a little salt is essential to good health. “Healthy
adults should consume salt and water to replace
the amount lost daily through sweat and to achieve
a diet that provides sufficient amounts of other
essential nutrients,” Chang counsels.
Others brain killers
Other brain-killer foods to avoid include processed
protein such as found in hot dogs, salami, sausages
and processed meats; nicotine, as found in
cigarette; alcohol, processed foods and artificial
sweeteners.
You are advised to eat your foods as naturally as
possible.

The Punch

Cahmegga:

If I hear! Easier said than done.....

Abi ooo

uniqueval:
would tell her to pardon me for getting d pre-planned тняєєѕσмє started without her...

okpara ugo: the only one I won't leave alone is that one in a kneeling position....

odikwa risky.

Justosaus: leave dem alone... None of dem's worth d headache

yeah, none of dem is worth d headache but u sure u gonna leave dem alone? Even ur babe?

Guys what will you do as well?

Enegod: You dated someone at one time or
another it ended and you moved on.
Keep the details to yourself....

Hmm....tnx

Kelechi2020: @op marriage is a very complicated issue that i dont think should be handled with kids glove(am just a teen probably single but believe me i always partake when mariage disputes are being resolved)
usualy most of this disputes are generated due to lack of trust.
If she refuse to tell her husband to be about her secret financer then she should get ready for what wil come out later.
I think the problem here is not whether he should tel him or not cause she has to do that,i think she has to find a way to diplomaticaly inform his new dude.but from the description of this guy that wants to marry her i think he is not man enough to get maried.

my thought initially too, because I was made 2 understand dat d man is a family friend.

Richfella: What happened in Vegas...stays in Vegas.

The guy appears to be 'not quite there yet'. It's better you keep it to yourself if his chances of finding out are slim.

He will judge you really really badly, if you tell him you slept with a married man. Guess a girl did what a girl had to do at that point.

Yeah and I know you're the person too.

believe it or not, I am not d person...but tnx 4 d piece

Bootylicious: I see no reason why she should tell him..... it's her past and some things r better untold.. we all have secrets dis is not a complicated secret like not having a womb, especially d guy being d type dat kips using what Shez said against her....

kk...tnx

Tnx evry1

A lady friend of mine has a very committed relationship and they are walking down the aisle soon but my friend has a secret she wanna tell her boyfriend(she said her conscience has not been too friendly with her on this issue). The thing is, she once dated an old and married man when she freshly graduated hoping he would help her secure a job (because she came out with a 3rd class) and help in some financial aspects too because they were virtually feeding from hand to mouth then. The man in question happens to be very influential and was promising to get her into NPA or NNPC (because my friend studied Chemistry). To cut this long story short, this man was just posting this lady and got nothing done 4 her as regards job, though she said he helped a little financially.
Her confusion now is, she wants to open up to her fiance before they finally tie d knot but her bf is the type that tells all (dat she's told him abt her) to whoever cares to listen whenever they have misunderstanding. He keeps referring to issues that are meant to be long 4gotten each time they have an argument. He'd call her Uncle or Mum to report to them and in the course slips out what is meant to stay btw dem (some mistakes she made even b4 she met him).
Now the question is, should she tell him about this man? I initially told her to go ahead but when she told me about the reporting and all, then I said we should bring this to NL and hear people's opinion. Please we need your candid piece of mind on this. Thanks all.

The guy is a nairalander but the babe isn't, I'll sure give her every piece from here.

Wow!!! Beautiful nature.... Nos 1 & 8 are my best in the list though. Nice one Op

genetos:
Nope that's the actor, am holding the camera

Ok then.....was having an idea but not anymore Gud job u did though

Nice one genetos........Is dat u in dre? Hmm......

@
See trousers for chest!!!

Patrick Obahiagbon, the Chief of Staff to the Edo State Governor, Adams Oshiomhole, in this interview with GBENRO ADEOYE, talks about his controversial way of speaking and why he chooses to speak that way
What is your educational background
I am by the grace of the celestial choir, a legal practitioner, a public administrator, an international historian and a diplomat. I earned a degree in Law and was called to the Nigerian Bar as a solicitor and advocate of the Supreme Court of Nigeria about 25 years ago and I do also have a double-barreled Master’s degree in Public Administration and in International History and Diplomacy.
Why do you always speak ‘big grammar’?
I am not really consensus ad idem with those who opine that my idiolect is advertently obfuscative.
No no no, it’s just that I am in my elements when the colloquy has to do with the pax nigeriana of our dreams and one necessarily needs to fulminate against the alcibiadian modus vivendi of our prebendal political class.
How do you talk to your wife, children and even your friends?
I relate with my family and friends very warmly and in an atmosphere of camaraderie, stripped of my confutational habiliment and gladiatorial homilies. I am a very peaceful, calm, level-headed and celestially attuned soul personality.
Is this the way you proposed to your wife, speaking high tech grammar?
Of course, the business of the day when I interfaced with my wife on matters of the heart had to be in plain Caeser’s language and you can decipher why that had to be so. The matter in view did not permit itself of sphinxian conundrum.
It’s a long time ago, so I can’t remember the exact words I used. We had a relationship for ten years before we got married. We’re looking at close to 20 years ago.
How does your family understand your
English?
My family and friends understand me perfectly just the same way you understand me now though, I
must admit that it depends on the issues on the piazza.
Is this the way you were speaking in your school days?
I’m sure if you confer with my school mates they will tell you that I no longer speak what those who just know me now call “grammar.” I could speak for about twenty minutes when I was in the university and you won’t understand one word of what I said. I must say I have deteriorated in my grammatical construct.
How did you start speaking in this manner?
It all happened when my father brought me a teaser which stated that good orators had ruled the world and you must have to be a feisty orator if you must rule the world. As an impressionable young man, I alacritously threw myself into the whirligig of
improving my usage of words by amassing new words on a daily basis.
Did you write exams in school in these big words?
I used such words very-very freely in my exams both at the secondary school and in my university and little wonder I had the misfortune of my English results being seized intermittently in my O’ Levels.
WAEC released my results for the other subjects and withheld my English result. This happened for about three years. Twice, I passed the University Matriculation Examination but I could not proceed to the University because of my English results that were not released. At the end of the day, it was released after the third attempt.
Didn’t you have problems with your teachers?
It no doubt gave me serious issues at the university and that is because some, if not most of my lecturers, ran away with the erroneous impression that my attitudinal predilection had a deprecable tinge of academic braggadocio and intellectual megalomania. But this assumption was both mendacious and a fallacious ad hominem. I could not but take solace in that Latin apothegm which states that O Tempora! O Mores.
Was English your best subject?
My best subject in secondary school was
government and religion and am sure that I was drawn to religion because, I now know as a student of Rosicrucian mysticism, that I was a student of divine light in my last incarnation. As for government, I just fell in love with the subject due
to my early attraction in life to issues of political-economy.
So what did you score in English language?
English language was of course my hobbyhorse and passion but like I earlier asseverated, my results were constantly guillotined to my utter chagrin that I had to lapse into a jeremiad of lachrymoseim for a period of aeon. I would need to check the result again to be sure of my score.
Do you pray the same way you speak?
God understands all languages, my brother and I pray to God using any word that pops up. May I posit that the key points in prayers are your sincerity, purity of heart, walking within the compass and to what extent are you ready and worthy of receiving the benediction of the cosmic and the cosmic masters because as we say in mysticism- “when the students are ready, the masters would appear.”
Take my words my brother that more than seventy per cent of humanity don’t know how to pray but that is a matter for another day.
By the way, are there other names you call
God?
God is variously known as Jehovah, Yaweh, The Great Grand Architect of the Universe, The Cosmic Host and several other names known alone to heirophants but which names are so ineffable for me to mention here.
Do you know that many people don’t take
you too seriously when you talk because they think you are not communicating
Why will I be perturbed from ensconcing myself in the palatable arms of Morpheus because people have deprived themselves of the cultivation of the regime of the mental magnitude? I read all the farrago of baloneys and vacuous bunkum from pepper soup objurgators. The spirit of animadversion remains their fundamental human right. It also remains an indubitable fact that I get millions and millions of requests daily from people all over the world requesting for my verbal mentorship which positive cosmopolitan reactions have assisted my equipoise and righteous sense of pachydermatous garb. I cannot put my nose to the grindstone daily and expect to be understood by those luxuriating in a modus vivendi, verging on pepper souping, goat heading, suyaing, big stouting and isiewulising. Has a philosophical wag not once pontificated that things of the spirit are spiritually discerned and that it takes the deep to call the deep? We will speak more on this matter of critiques and chichi dodo another day.
You were there when a teacher in your state couldn’t pronounce ‘solemnly’, how did you
feel?
I was indeed sad that a teacher in Edo State could not pronounce a simple word as ‘solemn’. That was certainly one of my low moments in the service of Edo State but the eulogies must go to Comrade Adams Oshiomhole who put in place the infrastructure that made it possible to detect such an egregious ambience and this government would stop at nothing in cleansing the Augean stables.
Have you ever considered organising English classes in Edo State?
I would have loved to organise English classes, my brother, but you will agree with me that I am sufficiently busy just now.
Why do you pull your trousers up beyond the waist?
Hahahaha….That trousers style is called Yohji Yamamoto. It was my own audacious statement toe rmonstrate against the pervasive tendency of Nigerians especially our youths that took to the practice of putting on trousers exposing their lower anatomical contours and I will do it over and over again.
When you speak to Caucasians of English
origin, how do they react to you?
My friends that are whites simply marvel and sometimes get maniacally bewildered when we engage, most times to my consternation.
Do you think that you understand English language better than the owners of the
language?
I have never had the ambition to know the English language more than the owners. However, I must mention that they are shocked most times to find out several words from me they never heard of that existed in the dictionary. Yet, those words are supposed to be theirs. Na so we see am.
Have you ever met with the Nobel Laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka? And what’s your opinion of him?
Professor Wole Soyinka is an international personality. It’s either you have met him personally or by reputation. He is a great man and I enjoy reading him anytime, any day.
Can you ever be caught speaking what many would consider as normal English?
I speak in plain Ceasers language or what you call the normal language and let me tell you that I will hold my own even in pidgin conversation. No just try me at all at all o.
What is your take on the ongoing crisis in the PDP?
The crisis in PDP? All I can say is that I join some people to dey laugh o and he be like say my laugh go tay well well o.
Are you likely to contest for a political office?
I am still in politics, serving the good and amiable people of Edo State. Being the Chief of Staff to the comrade governor is in itself an art of daily political engineering.
Do you look forward to developing your own dictionary?
My own dictionary? I have never really given that a thought, but there is a young man in one of our universities who travelled all the way to meet me in Benin. His doctoral thesis is on “Obahiagbonism as a style of language.”
How many dictionaries do you read a day and how often do you read dictionaries?
I have read and still do read a vaudeville of dictionaries from Websters to Funk and Wagnalls, from Cambridge to Oxford dictionaries, from Black’s Law Dictionary to Encarta and from Encyclopedia Britannica to Foreignisms, etcetera. I developed my corpus of vocabulary by reading omnivorously. I have also spent nothing less than an hour daily on my dictionary for over twenty years. So, whereas the dictionary for most people is a mere occasional reference point, it is for, me a vade-mecum. It may also interest you to know that there is much to learn from our daily newspapers.
You seem to mix English with other
languages…
On mixing of languages; that comes with reading omnivorously. You cannot but pick these words here and there if you have an audacious reading culture.
Is any of your children like you?
My children are still growing but I petition the celestial choir and cosmic hosts to give them the gift of kissing the hybla bee.
What is your favourite quote?
One of my favorite quotes is from the sapiential mind of the late Ikene philosopher, Papa Jeremiah Obafemi Awolowo, when he was quoted as saying that, “the greatest glory is not in never falling but to rise up after a fall.”
Are you planning to contest in 2015?
I always feel flattered and smile with delight when I hear positive commentary on my tenure at the National Assembly and the wish of Nigerians to see me back at the National Assembly. I am humbled but as a student of mysticism, nothing happens in my life by accident. I am a robot in the hands of God and from that point of view therefore, 2015 would take care of itself. All my efforts just now my brother is geared towards complementing the efforts of the comrade governor in the total transmogrification of Edo State which is enough to chew at the moment. Let me however use this opportunity of your question to appreciate my numerous admirers all over the world.
How are you coping with the Governor of Edo State, knowing that the two of you have strong personalities? When two or more personages are united only by the bonds of rendering service, that in itself becomes an agglutinating fragrance. In any case, I am very clear that Comrade Oshio Baba is the Governor of Edo State and I am his privileged Chief of Staff. So we are working together very harmoniously and in an ambience of conviviality in our unstoppable desire in taking Edo State to the next level.

Culled from: The Punch

orgasticdance: the men i see doing the things in your list are not men in the mold of murray bruce, donald trump, fola adeola, psquare, wizkid, late senator chuba okadigbo, govnor fashola, or even the most able mechanic in ketu. alpha males who for the most part drip with bloodthirsty ambition. no time. we'll send the cheques instead

You won't be surprised to know that those aforementioned men still find time out of their very busy schedule to do some of dos things with their women.

Hmm.... tnx all d same

St_Obaino:
Ladies just be the best of who u are. Build yourself,
Be Natural,
Be open minded,
Don't be selfish,
Be contented,

Don't take life soo serious, be happy and give out smile.

Be bold to make the first move and as soon as he responds, withdraw for him to do the rest.

We guys are soo easy to woo but most ladies just can't get it right.

Yeah, u are so on point, getting pregnant for a guy can neva ever b a marriage bait(4 guys). But i really do not blame som ladies dat do dat bcuz some guys can be so self-serving, as in, ehnn.

bukatyne:

Morning,

I don't know how many times It's will be said that NOTHING, ABSOLUTELY NOTHING, not a dozen kids, not your tears, not your sacrifices, not your very life can make a man who doesn't love you love you. I wonder where women got the idea that 'get pregnant for him and he would love you bla bla'.

Check out the homes where the wife is maltreated, she probably forced, coerced or threatened a man who doesn't love her to marry her.

I love this..got me thinking though. Hmmm.......

namis007: My wife just delivered recently and I have always wanted to be a part of everything going on with my son including bathing him. I begged my mother-inlaw when she came for omugwo to teach me how to bath my baby, and I can say am very good at it because since my mother-inlaw left, I ve been taking turns with my wife to bath the baby. I enjoy it very much.