₦airaland Forum

[quote author=Ileke-IdI link=topic=548998.msg7119287#msg7119287 date=1289454855]I ammmmmmmmmmm. I love my phone!!

But the problem is the battery life, it dies easily [/quote]About ur battery problem:

1. I would recommend you install Advanced App Killer (found free in the market). It is useful in closing all the unnecessary tasks/processes running in the background thus prolonging the battery life,

2. Do you put your phone on charge on a daily basis, or do you charge when the battery goes dead? It is better practice to charge it when it goes very low or runs out of charge as then you are using the whole battery, rather than using a part of the battery when charging it daily.

3. Turn off wifi, bluetooth etc when not in use

@ileke idi
Just saw ur ammmmmmmmmm now!
Wow!, o ma damo ooo!
what brand are u using and ur favourite app?

[quote author=Ileke-IdI link=topic=548998.msg7119287#msg7119287 date=1289454855]I ammmmmmmmmmm. I love my phone!!

But the problem is the battery life, it dies easily [/quote]Are u laso using an android?

Anyone using android phones,
I just bought HTC DESIRE, God! that phone is magic
The os is crazy and the apps are just too fantastic, its as if there's an app for everything on the android marketplace
All u blackberry boys, spend a day with android and u'll nevert regret u did!
Kindly write below ur own experience with android phone and your favourite app.
Mine is soundhound - its free on the marketplace, though there's a paid version, just hum any song and it will tell u details of the song, fantastic!

Kobojunkie:
Now you are entering into MYTH LAND. There are records of Sudanese, Algerians, Moroccans and so many other nationals who went out toi fight in Afghanistan or Iraq but all the Nigerians who went, according to you, were never intercepted, nor were they even detected by anyone, not even the locals in Afghanistan or Iraq who they were fighting with because they chose not to go with their passports and are probably all dead and buried in unmarked graves? Are you kidding me? ROFLMAO!

I can comfortably tell you this  . . .  and I wait for you to prove me wrong. There are not a lot of muttalabs out there in Nigeria – Nigerians are generally not known to be that way. We are speaking of a depressed individual who felt the way he could get freedom was to sacrifice himself for his belief. He was not the classic ANGRY MUSLIM, neither was he the typical Nigerian Youth. So, I doubt you will find a lot of muttallabs out there in Nigeria, but I wish you luck in that search.

Anyways, with the way we are going in this country very soon (i pray not) we'll begin to see their new skill set!

@I can comfortably tell you this  . . .  and I wait for you to prove me wrong. There are not a lot of muttalabs out there in Nigeria – Nigerians are generally not known to be that way. We are speaking of a depressed individual who felt the way he could get freedom was to sacrifice himself for his belief. He was not the classic ANGRY MUSLIM, neither was he the typical Nigerian Youth. So, I doubt you will find a lot of muttallabs out there in Nigeria, but I wish you luck in that search.

i hope u're not like that person whose house is burning and went back to sleep     
So 13 Loaded containers filled with rockets and mortars are not enough cause for alarm?
So we should just pretend that these munitions are not for non state actors, right?
Or dat, they want to melt d metals in them to make pots and pans, right?

Kobojunkie:
I have myself read many such stories from the Nigerian papers Tabloids but at the end of the day, it is all talk and nothing more. If Nigerians are actually going out to fight in places like Afghanistan and Iraq, do you seriously believe that the outside world would not have heard of them by now? We read a lot of trash from our papers and most of them end up being just that, all fluff and next to no substance. Most of those who make these stories do so to seek relevance of some kind. 

By the way, I was not surprised in anyway by the muttallab fellow. Considering his mental state, there is no surprise there. I understand where he probably got to and why he would pursue such a goal, now that in no way is typical of Nigerians. When you want to talk of Nigerians going out on suicide missions, then you are speaking  of something entirely different because the average Nigerian is not a muttallab. The average Northerner is nowhere close to being a muttallab. The boy was not in any way your typical Nigerian and so this is not really about Nigerians in any way. You make a mistake when you try to paint many more of our youths with the muttallab brush. Mutallab had serious psychological issues(please note that this does not mean he was coo coo in the head or any thing of the sort) that drove him to do what he did.

What i just wrote wasn't a story from the newspaper! its as real as u're typing, i hope u know dat they don't carry passport on such journey, many had to travel thru north africa and sh.it to get there, some of those youths still have unmarked graves in afghan badlands!
and Muttalab is not a norm, but there are still many more like him.
The paramount issue is dat we have a serious problem on our hands
WHO ARE THOSE WEAPONS MEANT FOR?

Kobojunkie:
Arms smuggled into your country means the country now needs to inject itself into a war that has nothing to do with it? Give me a break!
I hate to inform you that to date, only one Nigerian has actually been directly linked to Alquaeeda attack. No other Nigerian has been directly linked, not even that boys father to the same. I think we need to, in our paranoia, be sure to understand that once we cross the link between what is real and what is made up, we are likely to keep falling and may never recover in time. It is 2010 and to date, we have yet to hear of the many other Nigerian muslims who you claim were probably approached by the same group to Jihad in the same Afghanistan. The only Nigerian that has been able to get Nigeria on the list of terrorist countries happens to be a depressed Nigerian brat whose father gave him all and raised him abroad. No one else has appeared on that direct list.
Oh wow!!! Where is the record to show this?

Don't get me wrong all i'm saying is dat Iran ought to be penalized for the arms importation and also for giving asylum to the prime suspect in their embassy
@ be sure to understand that once we cross the link between what is real and what is made up, we are likely to keep falling and may never recover in time
The story i just narrated is very real, because u didnt read anything from the newspaper doesn't remove the realness! u want evidence, come back to nigeria and start mixing with some of these radicalized youth, u'll understand what i'm saying. A year ago if someone says that a Nigerian can attempt to blow a plane, of course u'll say " oh dats ridiculous, nigerians love life, they dont want to die" but the reality is different!
I'm sure the Nitros in the imported explosives wasnt for farmers to be used as fertilizers!
Dont let us wait until we start seeing suicide bombers on d street b4 we start acting!

@ becomerich
whats the relationship of this with the matter at hand?

Kobojunkie:
OH Boy!
I am not in any way pretending  . . .  I just do not share the view of yours that Nigeria is somehow to be involved in this in anyway. We have GREATER issues to tackle right there in our own backyard. No need to seek relevance by trying to inject ourselves into battles, out there, that have little or nothing to do with us.  Contrary to the view held by some in the south, Northerners are not out there looking for ways to inject themselves into these battles. Most of that reasoning comes from panic ridden people, mostly in the south, who are looking for yet another reason to ignore the most pressing issues right in front of us, so they can have yet another thing to blame the north for.  

If you look closely at the many riots up in the north, you quickly realize it has little to do with religion but more to do with poverty and anger. Boko Haram is a tiny sect and we should not now make them out into some significant force out there actually threatening our democracy in anyway. The North is already in the hands of sharia and even that has yet to help them keep things together.  We have worse situations to deal with as a nation – we have been held as slaves in our own democracy for well over a decade now. When do we get around to fighting that battle?

Its true that we have developmental issues to sort our here! but neglecting a considerable cache of arms smuggled into the country (God only knows how many slipped through) is tantamount to behaving like an ostrich burying its head in d sand. We really don't know, which group  the weapons is going to, but i can assure you its not for the Christians  
@ Northerners are not out there looking for ways to inject themselves into these battles
i can assure u again, many youth had already injected themselves and not only northerners (even youths from the west!)
Around 2002/3 in Lagos, a friend, who is a muslim was approached by some group to follow them on a Jihad in Afghanistan which was being sponsored by a popular Islamic group in Nigeria, he wanted to go but was ambushed by his mother, that was in Lagos o!
Many of those youths have gone, some of them are back and these people are not like you and me again.
They exist all over the place, its not until another Muttallab blow up something b4 we realize that whether we like it or not, there is a war on!

Kobojunkie:
What war would that be?

My sis, u're pretending as if u dont know?
I'm talking about the Pandora's box that was opened by Bush et al
Islamic extremism that wants to return the whole world back to the stone age!
We've had a taste of it inform of the Boko Haram's uprising and if d Govt. does not move fast?
May God help us!

Kobojunkie:
The man has been putting his foot in his mouth for a long time now, all of a sudden, we want to consider him a threat? A threat to what exactly? He is no more a threat than our own leaders have been, and continue to be to our existence as a nation and a people.

You can tell our elected Reps and Senators that! they were calling for his head when he made that statement! i havent heard a peep from them since the weapons were discovered, is it that they are dumb or what? 
Maybe they just don't understand that Nigeria is at war, the war happening on the world stage is gradually creeping into our backyard!

Kobojunkie:
According to the french company, that cargo has been held since July of this year. How did Ghaddafi come in to this? I am confused.

Just making an allusion to the fact that the politicians were ready to recall the ambassador to Libya because Ghaddafi put his foot in his mouth by calling for Nigeria's breakup and they are pussyfooting in recalling the ambassador to Iran wit all these allegations! Who is more dangeous: Ghaddafi or Ahmedinajad?

I pray Nigeria will not become another Iraq or Afghanistan, Just like Colonel Miles Quaritch predicted in Avatar, Nigeria being a badland where he honed his skills at killing!

Lets know what we are against!

What is QUDS FORCE?

The Quds Force (Persian: نیروی قدس, translit. Niru-ye Qods), (or Qods Force) is a special unit of Iran's Army of the Guardians of the Islamic Revolution (Revolutionary Guard). It has been described as "tasked with exporting" Iran's Islamic revolution, or "responsible for extraterritorial operations" of the Revolutionary Guard.

The Quds Force reports directly to the Supreme Leader of Iran Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Its current commander is Brigadier General Qassem Suleimani.

While "little is reliably known" about the force by outsiders, as of 2007, its size was estimated at 15,000 troops and operatives.

The Federation of American Scientists, in a document from 1998, says the primary mission of the Quds Force is to organize, train, equip, and finance foreign Islamic revolutionary movements. It further states that the Quds Force maintains and builds contacts with underground Islamic militant organizations throughout the Islamic world. (Boko Haram et al)

Focus of the Force

The Quds force has four main areas of interest:
Hezbollah operations in Lebanon
Iraqi Kurdistan
Kashmir, the Balouch and Afghanistan
And most recently Yemen

In the past the Quds force has also supported the establishment of Hezbollah branches in Jordan and Israel.

Quds Force is considered by some analysts as "one of the best special forces units in the world," according to a Los Angeles Times report. In Abedin's view, It's a very capable force — their people are extremely talented, [and] they tend to be the best people in the IRGC."

he Quds Force trains and equips foreign Islamic revolutionary groups around the Middle East. The para-military instruction provided by the Quds Force typically occurs in Iran or Sudan. Foreign recruits are transported from their home countries to Iran to receive training. The Quds Force sometimes plays a more direct role in the military operations of the forces it trains, including pre-attack planning and other operation-specific military advice.

Afghanistan

Iran had supported the Afghan Northern Alliance forces against the Taliban before the US did in its 2001 invasion of Afghanistan. Iran almost began a war in 1999 with Afghanistan when Taliban forces killed several Iranian officials.

Al Qaeda

Iran is believed by some to have detained the son of Osama bin Laden, Sa'ad bin Laden, at one point in time.

Lebanon

After the 2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict, Quds Force has been cited as possibly providing the millions of US dollars being handed out by the group Hezbollah for reconstruction.

South America

It's been reported that Iran has been increasing its presence in Latin America through Venezuela. Little is known publicly what their objectives are in the region but in 2009, Defense Secretary Robert Gates denounced Iran for meddling in "subversive activities" using Qud forces. However, Iran claims it is merely "ensuring the survival of the regime" by propagating regional influence.  As far back as 1994, Quds were suspected of financing and aiding Hezbollah in an attack on a Jewish center in Buenos Aires which resulted in the deaths of 85 victims.

Iraq

Quds Force has been described as the Iranian "unit deployed to challenge the United State presence" in Iraq following the US invasion of that country, which put "165,000 American troops along [Iran's] western border," adding to the American troops already in Iran's eastern neighbor Afghanistan.

The force "operated throughout Iraq, arming, aiding, and abetting Shiite militias" — the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq, Dawa, and the Mahdi Army — "all" of which "had close ties to Iran, some dating back decades" as part of their struggle against Saddam Hussien's oppressive Arab nationalist regime.

In November 2006 , with sectarian violence in Iraq increasing, US Gen. John Abizaid accused Quds Force of supporting "Shi'a death squads" even while the government of Iran pledges support in stabilization. Similarly, in July 2007, Major General Kevin Bergner of the U.S. Army alleged that members of the Quds Force aided in the planning of a raid on U.S. forces in the Iraqi city of Karbala in January 2007.

Former CIA officer Robert Baer asserts the Quds Force uses couriers for all sensitive communications

Read more here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quds_Force

Iran is a closed state, there is no way in hell that kind of firepower will leave Iran without state sanction and i strongly suspect Quds force at work here, i don't know why we've not recalled our ambassador by now and kick their own out? Gaddafi said we should split and the country wanted to recall our ambassador, some one shipped a serious military hardware into the hands of non state actors and we are grinning like an id.iot!

koruji:
It was Israel itself that made the claim.
There is no "gbam" to that question in terms of SSS lying - we don't know at this point, and they didn't not make the initial claim.

U know Israel naa, any time Iran is mentioned, they always believe there's a conspiracy to get them!

Kobojunkie:
Didn't the initial claim that it was from Iran on it's way out to palestine or was it Israel, come from the SSS? Or who made all that up?

Maybe they were trying to deflect the heat from some VIPs involved, uno naija naa!

The real question is why Nigeria? Why?

As if we don't know this before!   
Don't know why we are still hand in glove with Iran, though?

The State Security Service on Wednesday insisted that the intercepted arms at Apapa Port in Lagos were meant for Nigeria and not Israel.


The SSS Assistant Director, Public Relations, Marilyn Ogar, disclosed this in Abuja during a press conference.

https://www.punchng.com/images/October/Wednesday/pix20101027371648.jpg


According to Ogar, the bill of lading which listed the cargo as building materials had Nigeria as destination.


She also said that the SSS had arrested the consignee and the clearing agent whose identities she did not disclose.


The development came just as the SSS said it had arrested the car dealers at Amuwo –Odofin, Lagos from whom the cars used in the Abuja bomb blasts were purchased as part of ongoing investigations into the incident.


Ogar added that the SSS had also arrested the welder who welded the compartment that housed the bombs in the cars at Charles Okah’s residence, Apapa from where they were subsequently moved to Port Harcourt and wired.


She also told journalists that investigators had recovered the purchase receipts for the two cars.


She, however, refused to disclose the number and names of the arrested persons.


She said, “On the intercepted arms at Apapa Port, the service had been monitoring the movement of the illegal cargo before it arrived in the country. The ship that carried the cargo arrived at Tin Can Port on July 10, 2010 with 371 containers out of which 83 were discharged at Frano bonded warehouse, Cele- Ijesha, Lagos. The said ship departed on July 11.


“On October 20, 13 containers out of the 83 were moved from Frano to AP Molar Terminal, Apapa Port, where service personnel requested for 100 per cent inspection of the containers.


The bill of lading read building materials comprising glass-wood and pallets of stones with destination as Nigeria, hence any argument that the cargo came into this country by mistake is false.”


When asked to clarify if the cargo was cleared from the port and taken to the Frano bonded warehouse at Cele-Ijesha, Itire, Lagos, considering the distance between the two locations, Ogar feigned security concern, saying that “I won’t answer that question; investigation is still continuing and we are uncovering a lot of things.”


Ogar also denied that the SSS was trying the suspects secretly, pointing out that the court had granted the accused persons access to their lawyers, saying they had contacted family members in that respect.


She further said that the service had been procedural in the prosecution of the suspects.


She explained that the perpetrators of the Warri bombings of March 15, 2010 had been arrested, stressing that they were the same people used by a former leader of the Movement for the Emancipation of Niger Delta, Mr. Henry Okah, to execute the October 1 bombings.


Ogar claimed that Henry Okah came from South Africa for the Warri bombings, purchased the cars which were then moved to the welder and later to the house of one of the suspects on March 13 where he personally wired the bombs.


“Subsequently, on March 14, Okah departed the country, apparently to create an alibi for himself over the bombings that eventually took place the next day,” she added.

source: http://www.punchng.com/Articl.aspx?theartic=Art20101111358539

Read the tribune version here: http://tribune.com.ng/index.php/front-page-news/13421-seized-weapons-meant-for-nigeria-sss-declares-arrests-clearing-agent-consignee

obinna5000:
The TV series is based on the graphic novel of the same name.
Its been getting some favourable reviews.

Its infact a very crazy black and white American comic 

https://www.t1gn.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/the_walking_dead_by_kyleiam.jpg

ULSHERLAN:
Feeling zombie movies,
Jus cant stop watchin horror movied, dey r d best

Yeah, nothing like the zombie flicks, just finished watching the 2nd episode, its really crazy, the set, direction, special fx, acting, are all first rate!
Try and download the first and second episode from the torrent!

To all the zombie horror fans, welcome to an horrorfest!

https://horrornews.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/The-Walking-Dead-tv-series-6.jpg           https://cdn.screenrant.com/wp-content/uploads/the-walking-dead-zombie.jpg

The show started on October 31st 2010.
Its a 90 minute debut of The Walking Dead.
This tv series is sure to make zombie fans groan for more.

here below is a trailer

[flash=600,450]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R1v0uFms68U?fs=1&hl=en[/flash]

This film is crazy, if u've been watching, kindly leave your comment below
[size=13pt]THIS IS ZOMBIE ARMAGEDDON![/size] 

Was MONEY ever our problem? 
You mean more money for the politicians to steal!
Lets deal with mediocre governance, corruption and tribalism
and we will get there with what we have now by 2015!

OMG!
Its true, the poor sob, sounds like like our mapman!

What happened to baba's BASIC TRAINING, d other day we heard of another general that single handedly foiled a kidnap attempt!
Didnt Baba lead the 3rd Marine Commando during d war?
All the Amalas and free totos had rendered him powerless against an unarmed man, abi?
Chai!
Baba na wa o!

This other video is better!
It never cease to crack me up     
9ja I hail o!

[flash=650,450]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WANsOyI9QFA?fs=1&hl=en[/flash]


Especially the SEA PORK and THE LIVE AQUARIUM part
LWKMD     

Infact the reporter wasn't helping matters too, egging them on

Disgusted of Tunbridge Wells is not amused - and in this case it is no mere figure of speech.

Sitting at home in the Regency spa town famous for its Jaeger-clad Hyacinths and Daphnes, Caroline Gates-Fleming can only laugh at the irony.

‘I am one of them, really,’ she says, dabbing gingerly at the tender scars of a recent facelift.
‘Middle-class, middle-aged, respectable. I was brought up nicely and married well. Our boys went to public school.

‘But after what I’ve been through, I know they’d find me unacceptable around here. Things like this don’t happen to women like me.’

She has a point. For in Caroline’s case, ‘things like this’ means dabbling in fraud and embracing folly on such an epic scale that even her close family struggles to comprehend.

‘Everyone asks how could I have been so silly,’ she sighs. ‘I got more than I bargained for.’

How could she fall in love with a foreigner on the internet and then, despite his many and obvious lies, entrust him with £40,000, money she will never see again?

In fairness, Caroline, now 54, has the honesty and intelligence to talk about her motives and the loneliness which is at the root of her current predicament.

Similar to many women of her age, with two failed marriages behind her, she badly wanted the comfort of a relationship.
https://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2010/11/06/article-1327282-0BE9AB1A000005DC-639_468x604.jpg

‘What woman doesn’t worry about growing older?’ she asks. ‘It’s not just about looks. Confidence evaporates. Builders no longer wolf-whistle. When you have always attracted men, invisibility hits hard.

'It’s in the genes: my late mother Pauline was always glamorous. I won’t even pop to the shops without full make-up.’

As a young woman, Caroline had worked as a jobbing stage actress and dancer, and all that theatrical attention, she admits, had made her rather vain. Later in life, she turned her hand to property development, buying, renovating and selling cottages with some success.

‘Coming to terms with ageing is my problem. I need reassurance from a man,’ she says. ‘I was unhappy alone, and shattered by having brought up three boys.

‘Marcus, my first husband and father of Piers, my eldest [now 24], was long gone. Peter, my second husband, father of Rupert and Theo [19 and 18] had little to do with us.’

Craving a fresh start, in 2002 she moved to Marbella in Spain, where, rather romantically, she thought she might meet a new partner.

‘I still craved that special someone to say, “Want a cup of tea? Let’s have a cuddle,” ’ she says. ‘It is not about sex, but togetherness.’

But she never really settled and returned to Britain after four years, depression having kicked in, and in need of a job.

If glamour has always been a watchword for Caroline, she was still not too proud to take on ‘unattractive’ jobs and found work as a full-time carer for people with learning disabilities.

Her stores of confidence, though, were dwindling. ‘I was still alone, still desperately unhappy,’ she says.

‘I wanted to be flattered and taken out. But it’s so much harder to meet men when you are older. My girlfriends were all married. I had to do something. I’m not the kind to wait for things to happen.

‘They say you learn from your mistakes, but I’ve made the same mistakes with the same kind of men my entire life.’

So when, in August last year, Caroline came across Match.com, a high-profile dating website, the temptation to sign up was overwhelming. It felt safe and respectable, she says, and, after all, ‘you had to pay’ to join.
https://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2010/11/06/article-1327282-0BE9A91D000005DC-237_233x438.jpg

At first she was conservative, making sure her meetings took place in coffee bars during the daytime, but she soon found that her ‘dates’ were on the cautious side, too.

‘There was never that spark,’ she explains, flicking at the pink tips of her bleached blonde crop.

‘I began to find men my age too old for me. I don’t feel like a woman in her 50s. I fight it. I’ve had a gastric band and a facelift.’

Then she came across a man she calls Sab, who seemed so very different from the run-of-the-mill men she had been meeting.

‘Of course, his name is really Steve,’ she says, of the man she now understands is a Nigerian called Stephen Ehiamhen.

‘I call him Sab because, when he first advertised on the site, he called himself Sabastine Roland. He used a fake picture and posed as a Greek, claiming to be an entrepreneur in Nigeria.’

Caroline accepts that even the earliest signs were dubious.

[size=13pt]READ THE REST OF THE STORY HERE:[/size] http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1327282/How-middle-class-mother-Tunbridge-Wells-stupid.html

Disgusted of Tunbridge Wells is not amused - and in this case it is no mere figure of speech.

Sitting at home in the Regency spa town famous for its Jaeger-clad Hyacinths and Daphnes, Caroline Gates-Fleming can only laugh at the irony.

‘I am one of them, really,’ she says, dabbing gingerly at the tender scars of a recent facelift.
‘Middle-class, middle-aged, respectable. I was brought up nicely and married well. Our boys went to public school.

‘But after what I’ve been through, I know they’d find me unacceptable around here. Things like this don’t happen to women like me.’

She has a point. For in Caroline’s case, ‘things like this’ means dabbling in fraud and embracing folly on such an epic scale that even her close family struggles to comprehend.

‘Everyone asks how could I have been so silly,’ she sighs. ‘I got more than I bargained for.’

How could she fall in love with a foreigner on the internet and then, despite his many and obvious lies, entrust him with £40,000, money she will never see again?

In fairness, Caroline, now 54, has the honesty and intelligence to talk about her motives and the loneliness which is at the root of her current predicament.

Similar to many women of her age, with two failed marriages behind her, she badly wanted the comfort of a relationship.
https://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2010/11/06/article-1327282-0BE9AB1A000005DC-639_468x604.jpg

‘What woman doesn’t worry about growing older?’ she asks. ‘It’s not just about looks. Confidence evaporates. Builders no longer wolf-whistle. When you have always attracted men, invisibility hits hard.

'It’s in the genes: my late mother Pauline was always glamorous. I won’t even pop to the shops without full make-up.’

As a young woman, Caroline had worked as a jobbing stage actress and dancer, and all that theatrical attention, she admits, had made her rather vain. Later in life, she turned her hand to property development, buying, renovating and selling cottages with some success.

‘Coming to terms with ageing is my problem. I need reassurance from a man,’ she says. ‘I was unhappy alone, and shattered by having brought up three boys.

‘Marcus, my first husband and father of Piers, my eldest [now 24], was long gone. Peter, my second husband, father of Rupert and Theo [19 and 18] had little to do with us.’

Craving a fresh start, in 2002 she moved to Marbella in Spain, where, rather romantically, she thought she might meet a new partner.

‘I still craved that special someone to say, “Want a cup of tea? Let’s have a cuddle,” ’ she says. ‘It is not about sex, but togetherness.’

But she never really settled and returned to Britain after four years, depression having kicked in, and in need of a job.

If glamour has always been a watchword for Caroline, she was still not too proud to take on ‘unattractive’ jobs and found work as a full-time carer for people with learning disabilities.

Her stores of confidence, though, were dwindling. ‘I was still alone, still desperately unhappy,’ she says.

‘I wanted to be flattered and taken out. But it’s so much harder to meet men when you are older. My girlfriends were all married. I had to do something. I’m not the kind to wait for things to happen.

‘They say you learn from your mistakes, but I’ve made the same mistakes with the same kind of men my entire life.’

So when, in August last year, Caroline came across Match.com, a high-profile dating website, the temptation to sign up was overwhelming. It felt safe and respectable, she says, and, after all, ‘you had to pay’ to join.
https://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2010/11/06/article-1327282-0BE9A91D000005DC-237_233x438.jpg

At first she was conservative, making sure her meetings took place in coffee bars during the daytime, but she soon found that her ‘dates’ were on the cautious side, too.

‘There was never that spark,’ she explains, flicking at the pink tips of her bleached blonde crop.

‘I began to find men my age too old for me. I don’t feel like a woman in her 50s. I fight it. I’ve had a gastric band and a facelift.’

Then she came across a man she calls Sab, who seemed so very different from the run-of-the-mill men she had been meeting.

‘Of course, his name is really Steve,’ she says, of the man she now understands is a Nigerian called Stephen Ehiamhen.

‘I call him Sab because, when he first advertised on the site, he called himself Sabastine Roland. He used a fake picture and posed as a Greek, claiming to be an entrepreneur in Nigeria.’

Caroline accepts that even the earliest signs were dubious.

[size=13pt]READ THE REST OF THE STORY HERE:[/size] http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1327282/How-middle-class-mother-Tunbridge-Wells-stupid.html

[img]http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1327282/How-middle-class-mother-Tunbridge-Wells-stupid.html[/img]

Disgusted of Tunbridge Wells is not amused - and in this case it is no mere figure of speech.

Sitting at home in the Regency spa town famous for its Jaeger-clad Hyacinths and Daphnes, Caroline Gates-Fleming can only laugh at the irony.

‘I am one of them, really,’ she says, dabbing gingerly at the tender scars of a recent facelift.
‘Middle-class, middle-aged, respectable. I was brought up nicely and married well. Our boys went to public school.

‘But after what I’ve been through, I know they’d find me unacceptable around here. Things like this don’t happen to women like me.’

She has a point. For in Caroline’s case, ‘things like this’ means dabbling in fraud and embracing folly on such an epic scale that even her close family struggles to comprehend.

‘Everyone asks how could I have been so stupid,’ she sighs. ‘I got more than I bargained for.’

How could she fall in love with a foreigner on the internet and then, despite his many and obvious lies, entrust him with £40,000, money she will never see again?

In fairness, Caroline, now 54, has the honesty and intelligence to talk about her motives and the loneliness which is at the root of her current predicament.

Similar to many women of her age, with two failed marriages behind her, she badly wanted the comfort of a relationship.
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‘What woman doesn’t worry about growing older?’ she asks. ‘It’s not just about looks. Confidence evaporates. Builders no longer wolf-whistle. When you have always attracted men, invisibility hits hard.

'It’s in the genes: my late mother Pauline was always glamorous. I won’t even pop to the shops without full make-up.’

As a young woman, Caroline had worked as a jobbing stage actress and dancer, and all that theatrical attention, she admits, had made her rather vain. Later in life, she turned her hand to property development, buying, renovating and selling cottages with some success.

‘Coming to terms with ageing is my problem. I need reassurance from a man,’ she says. ‘I was unhappy alone, and shattered by having brought up three boys.

‘Marcus, my first husband and father of Piers, my eldest [now 24], was long gone. Peter, my second husband, father of Rupert and Theo [19 and 18] had little to do with us.’

Craving a fresh start, in 2002 she moved to Marbella in Spain, where, rather romantically, she thought she might meet a new partner.

‘I still craved that special someone to say, “Want a cup of tea? Let’s have a cuddle,” ’ she says. ‘It is not about sex, but togetherness.’

But she never really settled and returned to Britain after four years, depression having kicked in, and in need of a job.

If glamour has always been a watchword for Caroline, she was still not too proud to take on ‘unattractive’ jobs and found work as a full-time carer for people with learning disabilities.

Her stores of confidence, though, were dwindling. ‘I was still alone, still desperately unhappy,’ she says.

‘I wanted to be flattered and taken out. But it’s so much harder to meet men when you are older. My girlfriends were all married. I had to do something. I’m not the kind to wait for things to happen.

‘They say you learn from your mistakes, but I’ve made the same mistakes with the same kind of men my entire life.’

So when, in August last year, Caroline came across Match.com, a high-profile dating website, the temptation to sign up was overwhelming. It felt safe and respectable, she says, and, after all, ‘you had to pay’ to join.
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At first she was conservative, making sure her meetings took place in coffee bars during the daytime, but she soon found that her ‘dates’ were on the cautious side, too.

‘There was never that spark,’ she explains, flicking at the pink tips of her bleached blonde crop.

‘I began to find men my age too old for me. I don’t feel like a woman in her 50s. I fight it. I’ve had a gastric band and a facelift.’

Then she came across a man she calls Sab, who seemed so very different from the run-of-the-mill men she had been meeting.

‘Of course, his name is really Steve,’ she says, of the man she now understands is a Nigerian called Stephen Ehiamhen.

‘I call him Sab because, when he first advertised on the site, he called himself Sabastine Roland. He used a fake picture and posed as a Greek, claiming to be an entrepreneur in Nigeria.’

Caroline accepts that even the earliest signs were dubious.

‘He was vague about his age,’ she says. ‘First it was 47, then 37. He told me that when he applied for a visa to travel to South Africa, he had been advised to say 27 so that he could make out he was a student going to
the World Cup.

‘After two emails, he phoned. I knew the moment I heard him that he wasn’t Greek.’
In fact, while ‘Sab’s’ English was limited, he most certainly did not speak the language of Sophocles, preferring a version of pidgin laced with dialect and slang that is widely spoken in Nigeria.

‘I challenged him about it but he laughed,’ says Caroline. For all his obvious lies, she found him attractive. ‘We messaged and emailed every day.
'He soon said he was falling in love with me and I began to feel the same. I found it hard to explain to my sons that I was falling for someone I’d never met.

'Strangely, though, you communicate at a very intense level when it’s not face-to-face.
‘Sab is a direct, articulate person.

'He said he goes to church every Sunday and that his faith is strong. He said we were fated to meet.

‘When he first emailed that he loved me, a month after our initial encounter, I wrote, “Don’t go there.” I was terrified of the intensity of my feelings towards him.’

Caroline was well aware that much of ‘Sab’s’ story was invented, yet it was only after two months of passionate conversation that the two of them spoke seriously about his identity.

‘He confessed he was not who he’d said he was, that he couldn’t do it to me any more, that he “hadn’t planned on the emotion”, as he put it.’

He had to come clean. Hearing that he was really a black Nigerian came as no shock - his pidgin English and African-style dialect had given Caroline a major clue.

She says: ‘He said he was desperate to do something with his life, that he’d been looking for money to get into oil.’