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It was a night of fun and glamour as celebrities came out to have fun at the recently opened 'D Booth's Lounge, Ikoyi'. Stars in attendance included Celebrity OAP Denrele Edun , Model, Fashion & Business Icon Extraordinaire and one time Mr Nigeria, Bryan Okwara and his plus one, Marie Claire, The Talented Terry G, Mr University Africa 2014, Yemi Cregx, Melvin Oduah , Beverly Osu and Bassey Michael of Big Brother Africa, Screen Goddess, Adunni Ade, Stunning Wole Ojo, Ace

The Celebrity Vintage themed party was hosted by D'BOOTH's Lounge in collaboration with the Mr University Africa team. It was mind-blowing alongside a variety show of Vintage-inspired outfits. Others who also rocked the party include celebrity stylist kevin koya and CEO Mr University Africa Otito Aso, OAP larry foreman and a host of.others

[img]http://2.bp..com/-aCzuYpiaqFQ/Vd5plUe1FfI/AAAAAAACkzQ/p8cBMVPWZrI/s640/IMG-20150826-WA0005.jpg[/img]
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The Dont drive drunk campaign is an initiative by Mr University Africa featuring Yemi Cregx(Mr University Africa 2014)Yemi Cregx, Adunni Ade, Ace,Nelly Mesik, Tene, LOLO of Wazobia, John Iwueke, Charity Owoh, Bryan Okwara and former Big brother house mates Melvin Oduah, Beverly Osu and Bassey, directed by Kevin Becca aimed at creating awareness on the dangers of drunk driving as a leading cause of automobile accidents. celebrities came out to support this initiative.
http://www.stelladimokokorkus.com/2015/08/nigerian-celebrities-mugshots.html

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Fires NIMASA boss • Likely SGF, Chief of Staff emerge
PRESIDENT Muhammadu Buhari yesterday continued the demolition of old structures as he has approved the dissolution of the governing boards of federal parastatals, agencies and institutions with effect from yesterday.

He also terminated the appointment of the Director-General/Chief Executive of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Mr. Patrick Ziakede Akpobolokemi.A statement by the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, directed Akpobolokemi to hand over the management of NIMASA and all government property in his possession to the most senior officer in the agency, who would remain in charge until a new director-general is appointed.

The news broke yesterday as The Guardian learnt that the president, after due diligence, has concluded plans to name his Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) and Chief of Staff to the President (CoS-P).

Credible State House sources last night said that that an immediate past governor of a South-South state that has just been won by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) may emerge as SGF while a retired permanent secretary who once served as Secretary to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) from Kaduna State may be named Chief of Staff to the President.

The retired Permanent Secretary who holds a doctorate degree also served as Permanent Secretary in the Foreign Affairs ministry. The Guardian confirmed that the president who has been accused of dithering in appointing his men has finally agreed to the choice the two men from South-South and North-West respectively.

Adesina, said until the boards are reconstituted, chief executive officers of the affected parastatals, agencies and institutions are to refer all matters requiring the attention of their boards to the President, through the Permanent Secretaries of their supervising ministries.

However, the dissolution, according to Adesina, does not affect federal executive bodies listed in the 1999 Constitution as amended. He also stressed that the directive affects administrative or technical committees and other similar organs established by the dissolved boards.

The Guardian gathered yesterday that Akpobolokemi’s removal followed an anonymous petition alleging that about N1.3 billion was removed from the NIMASA account on June 25, 2015 to celebrate the “Day of the Seafarer” in Nigeria. The seafarer’s day is a global event marked on June 25 every year.

Some sources alleged that one of the directors was used to continually drain the resources of the agency.

The petitioners accused NIMASA of connivance in mismanaging N447 million fund approved by the office of the National Security Adviser (NSA) for the implementation of international ship and port facility security (ISPS), a ‘bogus’ project meant for consultancy, enforcement activities, and verification/inspection exercise. The project was said to have been approved on April 27, 2015.

“Within a period of just 12 days, Nigerians were defrauded of a whopping N447 million. The speed at which these huge sums of monies were requested and released is an indication of a grandeur conspiracy… This was part of the last-minute ransacking of the Nigerian treasury,” the petitioners alleged.
http://www.ngrguardiannews.com/2015/07/why-buhari-sacked-boards/

Written by Kimbali Chimalu

A lot of gay Nigerians are increasingly stepping into the limelight to campaign for their rights as human beings deserving of respect and peace of mind in their own country. This is a noble and worthwhile pursuit, but it has led a lot of Nigerians to believe (and verbalize) that those who campaign for gay rights are trying to force some sort of “gay agenda” down their throats.

Nigeria, as it is today, is a very dangerous place for anyone suspected of being gay. People may like to deny this, but being gay in Nigeria is tantamount to dousing yourself in fuel and dancing around a bonfire. It is a death sentence, both in the literal and civic sense. The government has enshrined the persecution of gay people and their supporters in law that exposing yourself as a gay individual is simply “asking for it.” Nigerians cheered and openly displayed their bigotry when the law against same-sex marriage was passed. Would a gay person highlighting the injustice of that constitute as “shoving it down other people’s throats?”

People fail to realize that no sane human being would willingly “turn gay” in a country like Nigeria. The potential to lose your family, home, and even life is too great for anyone “to become gay on purpose in order to belong.” Belong to what exactly? The most persecuted group in the world? Let’s try to rationalize this: gays live in a society where the government has legitimized their oppression; almost the whole population sees them as abominations; their families often disown them; strangers continually spew vitriol and threaten their very existence; being suspected of being gay may most likely result in a public lynching. So, I fail to see the compelling argument that would encourage people to become gay because it is the “in-thing.” If anything, it is the “out-out-thing.” Those that make the “people-must-be-becoming-gay-in-order-to-belong” argument refuse to look beyond their heteronormatively-enforced ignorance and/or arrogance to empathize with the plight of their fellow humans.

Yes, TV shows are starting to be reflective of the general society around us, so there are a few portrayals of same-sex relationships, but the fact still remains that portrayals of heterosexual relationships are still in the large majority. However, these portrayals of same-sex relationships are found mostly in Western media, but since our focus is Nigeria, I challenge anyone to show me a portrayal of a loving healthy same-sex relationship in the Nigerian media. The few cases we see of same-sex relationships portrayed on TV are often stories of relationships shrouded in secrecy and shame, which is reflective of the general atmosphere in Nigeria. These people must hide who they are, lurking in the shadows and living on the margins of society.

People often shroud their persecution of homosexuals in the cloak of religion and culture, but that is the refuge of those who refuse to take responsibility for their cruel inhumanity to their fellow man. If they can safely transfer the burden of responsibility to religion and culture, then they can sleep better at night knowing that they are merely automatons preserving the scared edicts of their religion and culture. If their religion and culture have already dehumanized these people as “other,” then it is easier to continue the dehumanization than examine and challenge this injustice.

It is my sincere belief that Nigerians should be the last people to use religion as a tool of oppression. Other than the fact that we cannot legislate morality because there should be a thick brick wall separating the church and the state, anyone familiar with the institutions of colonialism and slavery will understand why using a literal interpretation of religious texts to justify the degradation and dehumanization of a group of people is dangerous. The colonial masters, believing in the divine authority that has been bestowed on them by God, carved up and subjugated a whole continent because the dark skin of the savages was an apparent result of God’s view of them as inferior and beasts of burden. Believing colonization to not be enough, this same people, acting under the belief of some divine supremacy, enslaved the inhabitants of that continent. I see no difference between what the fundamentalist racist colonial masters did to what fundamental homophobes are doing in Nigeria today.

When it comes to culture, the one true thing we know for certain is that culture is always adapting to fit the needs of society. We are not bound to live by the codes that worked for our dead ancestors because we were not made for culture; culture was made for us. It is a clay that can be reshaped and remolded to fit the needs of its people.

Whenever I talk about this topic, I always get two comments: are you sure you are not gay and are you even a Christian? So, I am going to preemptively answer these accusations. No, I am not gay. I do not have to be gay to recognize the need for equality. Yes, I am a Christian, but I do not believe that my religion should be the yardstick with which I legislate other people’s morality.

The fight for gay rights is a big and dangerous one, but it is a fight we must engage in. When the oppressed raise their voice for equality, the empowered often call it “shoving your agenda down my throat.” Asking to be treated as a human being in your own country is not “shoving anything down anyone’s throat.” Asking not to be persecuted in your own home is not shoving anything down anyone’s throat. Asking not to live in fear of being lynched for who you are or love is not shoving anything down anyone’s throat.

The truth is that other people’s human rights is non-negotiable and if campaigning for those human rights constitutes shoving it down your throat, then saddle up and be prepared to be force-fed basic human decency. No one is asking that heterosexuals go out and find same-sex partners. Heck, no one is saying that homosexuals will convert heterosexuals and their children and bring about the end of humanity. What people are demanding is that heterosexuals not use their normal to deprive other people of their basic humanity.

One of my favorite proverbs is “May the Kite and the Eagle perch. If one says no to the other, let its wing break.” In other words, live and let live. The world is big enough for us, homosexuals and heterosexuals, to coexist without one group trampling on the other’s rights.

Written by Kimbali Chimalu
http://www.bellanaija.com/2015/05/22/kambili-chimalu-may-the-kite-and-the-eagle-perch/

• Gbajabiamila, Monguno agree to work with Dogara
• Speaker seeks donor confab for North-East over B’Haram

IN a bid to ensure delivery of democracy dividends, the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) has resolved the rift among its members in the House of Representatives over the election of Speaker, Mr. Yakubu Dogara.

The Chief John Odigie-Oyegun-led National Working Committee (NWC) of the party met yesterday with Mr. Femi Gbajabiamila and those in support of his aspiration to be Speaker of the House of Representatives for about two hours at the party’s secretariat in Abuja.
http://www.ngrguardiannews.com/2015/06/apc-resolves-rift-among-its-reps-members/

Thought provoking tho ...... The Educational system in Nigeria needs to be revamped holistically.... Not only lagos but all state institutions..... God help us all

Mr. Fani-Kayode, who spoke yesterday, was reacting to allegations by some members of Mr. Jonathan’s Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) that the party lost due to its deployment of hate-filled speeches.

“If one or two members of the [PDP’s] National Working Committee are so ignorant that they cannot make a distinction between virile political banter and a hate campaign, that is their problem,” said the presidential spokesman, making a hardly veiled reference to Olisa Metuh, the PDP’s national publicity secretary.

Mr. Fani-Kayode insisted that the PDP’s campaign had to vigorously engage the All Progressives Congress (APC) because the PDP “was faced with the most effective and ruthless campaign of calumny that this country has ever known from an opposition that was ruthlessly efficient in all its ways and that was not prepared to spare [President Jonathan] or take any prisoners.”

He added: “We are serious-minded, patriotic, loyal, faithful, responsible and hard-working party leaders, many of whom have either been federal ministers, senators or state governors in the past, who chose to answer a call to duty by our president and who made massive sacrifices in terms of time, energy, commitment and risk and stood up for our president when asked to do so.”

Mr. Fani-Kayode’s statements were made in an interview in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital. He argued that standing up for the president when he was faced with the most vicious, malicious and hateful political gunfire that Nigeria had ever known was not a hate campaign.

The presidential campaign spokesman stated, “The truth is that the APC media machine was awesome, yet we engaged them fire for fire and bullet for bullet and I do not regret that.”

He added: “If we had not done so we would have lost the election by at least 10 million more votes than we did. We spoke the truth, we engaged the enemy on all fronts and we not only fought them to a standstill but, for the first time since the establishment of the APC, they were put on the defensive. This was a great achievement for which we ought to be thanked and not one for which we should be maligned, misrepresented and insulted.

http://saharareporters.com/2015/05/20/fani-kayode-slams-metuh-claims-apc-ran-malicious-campaign

nora544: they should beat you, are you a real christian, what is with love your neighbor like yourself, it could be possible that Jesus was the person you beat, you are not a real christian because when you where a real christian you will never make something like this.

You are a disgrace to christianity

A big disgrace! Aqwon jati jati.... oloriburuku leleyi!!! U shudnt av been born for beaten a fellow human

Interesting article, but its all fictional

Ur so stupid and daft!.... so how does beaten the guy up makes u better than him... are u saint... u resolve to jumgle justice to pass a message... are u holier than him, do u yhink God wud be happy with h for beaten a fellow human being like a dog.... If u dnt know.. better know it, gay pple are everywhere, even ur brother or relative. .... u better start dealing with this truism... idiot!