₦airaland Forum

CandyR:
Hello everyone, I’ve been following the thread for some months since I applied in early March, thankfully just got my Visa/picked the passport. 3months validity was given.
So I’ll drop some of my own experience so that I’ll also receive �
I applied with my husband, I was called for interview a month after,
Interview questions: purpose of travel, travel history, who are you going with etc? Just normal interview questions.
Then 2months after got called to pick up. Also I have a good travel history that covers countries in different continents (America, Asia, Europe, Africa).

Please I’ll like to ask for fun things to do in Brazil. (Rio)
If anyone can be kind enough to give good hints to save cost etc.
Plan going in July, how’s the weather etc.

Hello Madam, please did you and your husband fill out separate forms? Or was it just one form you filled online? I am trying to apply for a tourist visa for my family (wife, I and our <2 years baby). Do I need to fill out individual visa applications - one by one? I would be very grateful for a response.

[img][/img]In every way, Johnny is physically and biologically male. But, astonishingly he did not grow a penis until he hit puberty.

He is one of many children who live in Salinas, an isolated village in the southwestern Dominican Republic, who are seemingly born female, only to become men in their teenage years.

Although Johnny’s story may seem extraordinary, cases of little girls turning into boys are so prevalent in the village that it is no longer considered abnormal. The children are simply referred to as the ‘guevedoces’ – which literally translates as ‘penis at 12’

Johnny, 24, was originally named Felecitia by his parents and brought up as a girl. He spoke to Dr Michael Mosley for the new BBC2 series “Countdown to Life – the extraordinary making of you"

Dr Michael Mosely - growing a penis at 12
“I remember I used to wear a little red dress,” he said. “I was born at home instead of in a hospital. They didn’t know what sex I was.

“I went to school and I used to wear my skirt. I never liked to dress as a girl. When they bought me girls toys I never bothered playing with them. All I wanted to do was play with the boys.”

Johnny, who was seemingly born as a girl but turned into a boy aged seven
Johnny, who was seemingly born as a girl but turned into a boy aged seven
The rare genetic disorder occurs because of a missing enzyme which prevents the production of a specific form of the male sex hormone - dihydro-testosterone - in the womb.

All babies in the womb, whether male or female, have internal glands known as gonads and a small bump between their legs called a tubercle. At around eight weeks, male babies who carry the Y chromosome start to produce dihydro-testosterone in large amounts, which turns the tubercle into a penis. For females, the tubercle becomes a clitoris.

But some male babies are missing the enzyme 5-α-reductase which triggers the hormone surge, so they appear to be born female with no testes and what appears to be a vagina. It is not until puberty, when another huge surge of testosterone is produced, that the male reproductive organs emerge. What should have happened in the womb happens around 12 years later. Their voices deepen and they finally grow a penis.


For Johnny it happened at the age of seven. He claimed that he had never felt like a little girl and was far happier after he fully became a boy.

“When I changed I was happy with my life,” he said.

A little girl named Carla is currently going through the same transformation, aged nine. Despite being brought up as a girl, his mother noticed that from the age of five he was more inclined towards the rough and tumble play of little boys. He has recently had his hair cut short after wearing plaits for years.

“I feel like a man now,” he said.

Many decide not to change from their female names, so some men in Salinas have names like Catherine.

The guevedoces were first discovered by a Cornell University endocrinologist Dr Julianne Imperato in the 1970s who travelled to Dominican Republic after hearing strange rumours about girls turning into boys.

Further cases have since been seen in the Sambian villages of Papua New Guinea although the Sambians view the children as flawed males and they are often shunned, unlike the Dominicans who welcome the transformation with widespread celebration.
[img][/img]
Dr Mosley said: “I hated going through puberty; voice cracking, swinging moods, older brother laughing at me. But compared to Johnny, I had it easy.

“Guevedoces are also sometimes called “machihembras” meaning “first a woman, then a man”. When they’re born they look like girls with no testes and what appears to be a vagina. It is only when they near puberty that the penis grows and testicles descend.

“When Dr Imperato investigated the Guavadoces she discovered the reason they don’t have male Instruments at birth is because they are deficient in an enzyme called 5-α-reductase, which normally converts testosterone into dihydro-testosterone.

“By a quirk of chance Dr Imperato’s research was picked up by the American pharmaceutical giant, Merck. They used her discovery to create a drug called finasteride, which blocks the action of 5-α-reductase.

“It is now widely used to treat benign enlargement of the prostate and male pattern baldness. For which, I’m sure, many men are truly grateful.”

Around one in 90 children in Salinas are guevedoces and although they resemble sexually normal males, subtle differences do still exist in adulthood. Most have decreased amounts of facial hair and smaller prostate glands relative to the average male.

It is thought that the condition has persisted through generations because of the isolation of the villagers. Because the disorder is so widespread and accepted, the Dominican Republic now believes that there are three sexual categories, male, female, and pseudohermaphrodite.

Source: Telegraph
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/2016/03/12/the-astonishing-village-where-little-girls-turn-into-boys-aged-1/amp/

rheether:
Wish no more. Dm me your akant

Wish no more. Dm me your akant

Rheether Rheether. Please buy one for me too and one yacht. Thanks and God bless.

Nigeria’s former oil minister named in US bribery complaint
DoJ moves to seize assets from oilmen who allegedly lavished gifts on Alison-Madueke

July 14, 2017
11:50 pm
by David J Lynch in Washington

US prosecutors on Friday moved to seize $144m in assets including a 200-foot yacht and a Manhattan condominium one block from Central Park, calling them the fruits of an international bribery scheme that involved the then-president of Opec.

From 2011 to 2015, two Nigerian oil men, Kolawole Aluko and Olajide Omokore, alledgedly conspired with others to bribe the country’s minister for petroleum resources, Diezani Alison-Madueke, in order to win oil production contracts worth $1.5bn, according to a civil forfeiture complaint.

At the time, along with controlling the country’s state-owned oil company, Ms Alison-Madueke, 56, also headed the Vienna-based oil cartel. Nigeria’s federal high court earlier this year charged her with money laundering and she has previously denied any wrongdoing.


After awarding government contracts to shell companies owned by the two men, Ms Alison-Madueke — known as “the madam” or “Madam D” — was rewarded with a “lavish lifestyle”, according to the US Department of Justice.

The justice department action targeted Mr Aluko’s vessel Galactica Star, which its builder bills as the “world’s largest fast displacement yacht”, along with condominium units in Manhattan and real estate in Southern California located just three miles from the Pacific Ocean.

“The United States is not a safe haven for the proceeds of corruption,” said acting assistant attorney-general Kenneth Blanco. “If illicit funds are within the reach of the United States, we will seek to forfeit them and to return them to the victims from whom they were stolen.”

Though known as “a small time trader” who had previously earned around $500,000 annually, in less than three years Mr Aluko purchased more than $87m of US property and the $82m yacht, according to the complaint, filed in US district court in Houston.

According to the complaint, in a conversation with Mr Aluko that prosecutors say Ms Alison-Madueke recorded, she criticised him for his lavish spending. “If you want to hire a yacht, you lease it for two weeks or whatever,” she said. “You don’t go and sink funds into it at this time when Nigerian oil and gas sector is under all kinds of watch.”

The two businessmen allegedly purchased millions of dollars worth of property in and near London for the oil minister and her family and then furnished the homes with furniture, artwork and other luxury items from Houston-area stores that she fancied.


In January 2011, the Nigerian businessmen and unidentified co-conspirators bought a Buckinghamshire home known as “The Falls” for £3.25m. Two months later, as Mr Aluko was meeting with Nigerian oil officials to discuss a contract, he arranged to buy two properties near London’s Regent Parks: a £1.7m home at 39 Chester Close and 58 Harley House on the Marylebone Road for £2.8m.

The first property, upgraded with an elevator and new stone flooring and countertops, was intended for the use of Ms Alison-Madueke’s mother and her son, according to the complaint.

The men that month also purchased a £3.7m flat at 83-86 Prince Albert Road for the oil minister.

Ms Alison-Madueke appears to have favoured furniture stores in the Houston area, which she patronised on periodic visits to the US oil industry capital. On a single day in May 2012, Mr Aluko wired $461,500 from a Swiss bank account to one furniture store and spent an additional $262,091 at a second on the oil minister’s behalf, the complaint says.

The case was brought as part of DoJ’s kleptocracy asset recovery initiative.

Mr Aluko and Mr Omokore created two shell companies in the British Virgin Islands — Atlantic Energy Drilling Concepts Nigeria and Atlantic Energy Brass Development — to handle their oil contracts.

Though the companies, which prosecutors say were “unqualified”, failed to fulfil the terms of their deals, they were allowed to produce and sell more than $1.5bn worth of Nigerian crude oil. The pair then created additional shell companies to launder the proceeds through the US, prosecutors said.

Mr Aluko’s last known address was in Porza-Lugano, Switzerland, while Mr Omokore is described as a resident of Lagos.

Follow David J Lynch on Twitter: @davidjlynch

Copyright The Financial Times Limited

Source: http:///2up6iA9

https://twitter.com/davidjlynch/status/886028132620390401

Ekiti State governor, Ayo Fayose, on Monday said he will be partaking in the upcoming nationwide protest led by Innocent ‘Tuface’ Idibia.


In a post on his Twitter handle shortly after 10:00 p.m., Mr. Fayose said the organisers have his full backing to launch the protest which they said will be “massive”.
“To organisers of Feb. 5 “Enough is Enough” National Protest, you have my total support and I will be part of the protest,” the governor said.
Mr. Fayose is the latest public figure to queue behind the organisers of the demonstration, which is expected to hold simultaneously in different cities across the country.
Mr. Idibia, while announcing the protest last week, said the Buhari administration’s rudderlessness has left too many Nigerians languishing in poverty with little to be hopeful for about the future.
The police said they have been duly informed about the protest and will provide security for all participants, although the government called for patience and understanding amongst Nigerians

Source: http://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/top-news/222186-fayose-march-tuface-others-nationwide-protest.html

..and (if) you are comfortable sleeping in the field or bushes, by all means go on the 13th day"

This made me really laugh hard. I love your writing style. It is free and unencumbered and there are sweets littered everywhere.

Kudos

Twinkle62:
Sky integrated services not skymint

Hello there. Did you go for the interview. Are they legit? I just got the same invitation for tomorrow morning

He and his sister were trying to "hot pot," or soak in the water.

An Oregon man who died in a Yellowstone National Park hot spring and dissolved when he fell into the boiling, acidic water, was looking to soak in the water, park officials said in a report.

The report, which followed a Freedom of Information Act request from KULR, found that Colin Scott, 23, was looking for a place to “hot pot,” or soak in the streaming waters—a practice forbidden by the park—with his sister in June. He “was reaching down to check the temperature of a hot spring when he slipped and fell into the pool,” the report said, quoting his sister Sable Scott.

Search and rescue rangers who looked for Scott found his body in the pool, along with his wallet and flip flops, but their recovery efforts were thwarted by a lightning storm. The next day, they could not find any remains because of the acidic water quality.

“In a very short order, there was a significant amount of dissolving,” Deputy Chief Ranger Lorant Veress told KULR.

Source: http://time.com/4574226/man-dissolved-yellowstone-park/

88 min: Batshuayi crosses a long ball to Pedro after Mark Clattenburg plays the advantage. Pedro runs at the Burnley defense with pace and pings a superb cross to Victor Moses who does not need another invitation to power the ball into the net

88 min. Mosessssssss? Yesssssssss!

85 mins: Batshuayi gets the throw in from Pedro. Drives across three defenders but his shot is wayward.

79 mins: Costa replaced by Batshuayi. Eden Hazard goes off for Pedro.

76 mins: Willian subbed for Victor Moses and gets a standing ovation. Great game today for him and a wonderful goal. Moses gets anot her chance today.

72min: O'Neil tries to squeeze one in but the 18 year old sees his effort blocked by Ivanovich. Burnley camp in Chelsea's 18 yard box. Three corners in a row but Chelsea have defended stoutly

65mins: Gray tries to get past Terry, but a firm foot out stops him dead in his tracks. Burnley getting adventurous

61 mins: Willian drives a diagonal cross picking out Hazard whose shot is nearly diverted to the path of the onrushing Costa. Chelsea looking too good for Burnley

58mins. Great reverse ball from Hazard to Oscar, Oscar hots it and get sa corner. Corner comes in and Hazard hits a deft shot. Just over the cross bar. Chelsea racking up the goal attempts now.

55mins. Burnley defense fall asleep and Costa lashes at the ball. Corner Chelsea. Great corner from Willian to Hazard who hits it perfectly on the volley, the Burnley goalkeeper parries and John Terry shots the rebound into the stands.

52 mins: Matic sets up Diego Costa, then Oscar sets up Costa but his shots in both occasions scuffed.

50 mins Free kick Chelsea, Willian takes and it's yards over the top

SlimBrawnie:
My mum duped me severally of this "Let me hold it for u" scam and the day I ever ask of it is the day I'd be reminded of the food I've been eating, the clothes I've been wearing and my school fees.

Shey na me say make una born me?

Hahahahhahah. I'm sure you'll do the same thing to your kids. By the way nice profile picture...

The House of Representatives has vowed to deal with the former Chairman, Committee on Appropriation, Mr. Abdulmumin Jibrin, over his allegation that speaker of the House, Yakubu Dogara and three other principal officers attempted to pad the 2016 budget.
Jibrin who was last week removed by the leadership of the House as the Chairman, Committee on Apropriation, had accused Dogara of attempting to pad N30bn into the 2016 controversial budget.

But the spokesman of the House, Abdulrazak Namdas said punitive measures are being weighed against jibrin, Sunday Punch reports.


The House spokesman wondered why Jibrin has not formally petitioned the House and relevant anti-graft agencies with evidence backing his allegations against the Speaker, but instead he engaged in media campaign since his removal.

According to Namdas, “We will deal with him appropriately in line with the relevant rules of the House.

“The rule of the House is not to engage in media campaign against its leadership. He has the option of writing a petition to the House, attached with his evidence, when we resume in September.

“Alternatively, let him write to the EFCC or ICPC for investigation. These agencies have powers to arrest and prosecute. These options are available and he should stop running down the House.”

http://dailypost.ng/2016/07/24/2016-budget-padding-will-deal-jubrin-reps/

The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) has given President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration two weeks to open talks with its “Reach out to ‘Aaron Team’ or face consequences.
MEND also responded to a recent piece titled ‘President Buhari sharpens focus on Niger Delta’, authored by Garba Shehu, presidential assistant on media and publicity.

Garba had lambasted the Niger Delta Avengers for “killing soldiers and policemen, kidnapping and killing of oil company workers and asking oil companies to stop operations and pack out of the Niger Delta region”.



According to him: “They blow up oil pipelines, power and other infrastructure. They attack and kill prominent individuals, ransacking homes up and down the coastal areas, including lately, Lagos and Ogun states. All these for what?”

MEND, however, denied that Niger Delta militants were behind the killings and attacks on some coastal communities in Lagos and Ogun.

Calling on Buhari to act fast in addressing issues it had earlier raised, the group listed names of those the government must negotiate with, warning that “if we don’t hear from the Federal Government, MEND shall safely assume that it is truly not sincere about dialogue on the Niger Delta question and responds only to the threat of violence or industrial action”.

Full statement below:


The attention of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) has been drawn to an article titled: “President Buhari Sharpens Focus On Niger Delta,” written by Mr. Garba Shehu, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity.

We have carefully studied and analysed the article. We wholeheartedly applaud and welcome President Buhari’s sharpened focus on the Niger Delta even though, in our estimation, Mr. Shehu’s article ironically did more to obtuse the focus.

Mr. Shehu’s piece was unfortunately marred by sweeping assumptions; hasty generalization; illogicality and poor analysis of the Niger Delta question and, above all, the article merely provided lame excuses for Government’s inability to proffer sustainable solutions to THE Niger Delta crisis.

It was tactless of Mr. Shehu to arrive at a conclusion in his article that, Niger Delta militants were behind the killings of prominent individuals and attacks on some coastal communities in Lagos and Ogun states. This casual but hasty generalization from a Presidential spokesperson is, to say the least, steeply divisive and capable of sparking a tribal war of unimaginable consequences between the Ijaws (whose youth are perceived to constitute a large number of the rank and file of Niger Delta militants) and the Yorubas.

Quite apart from the fact that none of the Niger Delta Avengers (NDA) operatives have so far, been arrested by security agencies to establish Mr. Shehu’s sweeping assumption, the comment by Mr. Shehu is regrettable and infra dig his office.

Going forward, three salient issues which clearly reveal the seeming inability of President Buhari’s government to find sustainable solutions to the Niger Delta crisis can be distilled from Mr. Shehu’s article.

Firstly, he made heavy weather about the Punch newspaper editorial of July 1, 2016, as a basis to justify Government’s reluctance to negotiate with the NDA and other militant groups. Thereafter, he cited National Security Adviser (NSA) General Babagana Monguno’s alleged encounter with about 14 different militant groups who were all “claiming leadership to the renewed onslaught on the nation’s economic jugular vein.”

Secondly, Mr. Shehu revealed in his article, the reluctance of Government to take “the strongest possible military action” against the NDA and other militant groups while appealing to Elders and Traditional Rulers from the Niger Delta region such as HRH King Alfred Diette-Spiff, the Amanyanabo of Twon-Brass in Bayelsa state to beg the militants to ceasefire.

Thereafter, Mr. Shehu informed that President Buhari would take action (presumably, military action) after receiving reports from Minister of State for Petroleum, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, who was interfacing with stakeholders; Special Adviser on Niger Delta/Co-ordinator, Presidential Amnesty Programme, Brigadier General Paul Boroh (rtd); and the new Management of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).

Thirdly, Shehu in his article bemoaned the proliferation of solutions to the Niger Delta crisis while asking rhetorical questions, to wit: “How many of those agreements, joint statements, ceasefires and peace declarations do we have on record so far? Why haven’t they given us peace? What is wrong with those agreements that they don’t last?”

Mr. Shehu failed to proffer answers to his own questions. He also failed to apportion blame on successive Governments and the International Oil Companies (IOCs) who have repeatedly reneged on agreements entered with the people of the Niger Delta. For instance, Mr. Shehu needs to be reminded that Government and the IOCs are owing the NDDC billions of Naira in withheld funds. But that is a discussion for another day.

There is a marked distinction between negotiation with criminals and fraudsters who force concessions from Government using the strategy of attacks on oil installations, on the one hand; and dialogue with genuine militant groups such as MEND, who are committed
to meaningfully engage Government on the vexed Niger Delta question, on the other hand. While the former engage in militancy for their own personal aggrandizement; the latter are patriots who are fighting a just cause and are equally desirous of peace, stability and development of the Niger Delta region for the Common Good.

As unfolding events in Nigeria have since revealed, the major challenge of President Buhari’s government lies in its inability to distinguish between NEGOTIATION (emphasis supplied) with criminal elements such as the NDA who are sabotaging the nation’s economy and whose demands range from the mundane to the outright ridiculous, on the one hand; and DIALOGUE (emphasis supplied) on the Niger Delta question with a serious-minded group such as MEND, on the other hand.

The way and manner criminal gangs such as the NDA hold Government to ransom and force concessions; is the same way and manner pressure groups such as PENGASSAN, NUPENG or even the National Association of Resident Doctors (NARD) oftentimes held Government to ransom, regardless of the risks posed by their actions to the national economy and to the lives of ordinary Nigerians. The only difference here is that NDA ups the ante with their senseless and unprovoked attacks on oil installations. Willy-nilly, Government must negotiate with them even though their belligerent and bellicose conducts may be inimical to the national interest.

The government is therefore at liberty to negotiate with arm-twisting unions and criminal groups like the NDA so long as such negotiations were done in the national interest. After all, even in the United States and other Western countries, professional negotiators were
often engaged by those Governments to negotiate with criminals who may have held innocent citizens hostage; while at the same time, placing snipers on standby to take out the threat to national security whenever the opportunity presented itself.

MEND is therefore not opposed to Government’s plan to negotiate with the recalcitrant NDA through the office of the NSA. However, Government must not delude itself into thinking that negotiation with the NDA was tied to the resolution of the Niger Delta question. Negotiation with NDA is merely a temporary respite, as another opportunistic group is lurking in the shadows. But dialogue and resolution of the Niger Delta question is a sustainable solution for all stakeholders.

MEND have repeatedly reiterated that the Niger Delta struggle was beyond attacks on oil installations. In fact, destruction of oil and gas pipelines is an elementary course in guerilla warfare which can be carried out by any militant group. MEND, therefore stopped attacks on oil installations more than two years ago when the group unilaterally declared a ceasefire of hostilities on May 30, 2014, against Nigeria’s key economic and strategic interests. Since then, the group had relentlessly sought to engage Government in a sincere DIALOGUE (emphasis supplied) on the release of Prisoners of Conscience, including Henry and Charles Okah, as well as addressing the root issues bedevilling the Niger Delta region, without success.

On January 6, 2015, when MEND realised that former President Goodluck Jonathan – an indigene of the Niger Delta – was not interested in dialogue, on the Niger Delta question, the group endorsed Muhammadu Buhari as its candidate in the 2015 Presidential election; in the earnest belief that President Buhari would sincerely welcome dialogue on the Niger Delta question. MEND therefore calls on President Buhari to refrain from being deceived by the recent visit of HRH King Alfred Diette-Spiff to the Presidential Villa under the pretext of a hurriedly formed Niger Delta Dialogue and Contact Group (NDDCG).

Throughout the 6-year tragic rein of former President Goodluck Jonathan, King Diette-Spiff said or did nothing on record to draw the attention of the former President to the resolution of the Niger Delta question. He and other elders and elites of the region, including
Chief Edwin Clark, certain ex- militants, tribal assemblies such as the Ijaw Youth Council (IYC) as well as a coterie of so-called Niger Delta activists; embarrassingly kept mute and turned a blind eye during the 6 years of colossal waste, unmitigated corruption, monumental fraud in the unsustainable amnesty programme, environmental decay and neglect, infrastructural stagnation such as the wicked and criminal abandonment of the East/ West road project, among others.

Regardless of the fact that there is a consensus of opinion that the Federal Government is not sincere about the kind of dialogue advocated by MEND, the group has nevertheless, named an Aaron Team comprised of the following persons:

i. Henry Odein Ajumogobia, SAN (Rivers) – Team Leader;
ii. Bismark Jemide Rewane (Delta) – Awaiting re-confirmation;
iii. Senator Florence Ita-Giwa (Cross River);
iv. High Chief Government Ekpemupolo (Delta) – Awaiting confirmation;
v. Ledum Mitee, Esq. (Rivers);
vi. Lawson Omokhodion (Edo);
vii. Ibanga Isine (Akwa Ibom);
viii. Senator Adolphus Wabara (Abia);
ix. Alfred Isename (Edo);
x. Timipa Jenkins Okponipere, Esq. (Bayelsa) – Team Secretary

For the avoidance of doubt, the MEND Aaron Team shall not dialogue with the NSA given that the office of the NSA lacks executive power. Given also the fact that the root issues surrounding the Niger Delta question are on the exclusive legislative list. Given further, the
fact that the proposed dialogue is not an interrogatory session.

We, therefore, hope that the Federal Government shall reach out to “Aaron Team Leader” Mr. Odein Ajumogobia to signal Government intention to commence the dialogue. If after two (2) weeks from the date of publication of this Right of Reply we don’t hear from the Federal Government, MEND shall safely assume that Government is truly not sincere about dialogue on the Niger Delta question and responds only to the threat of violence or industrial action.

SOURCE:
http://dailypost.ng/2016/07/10/mend-gives-buhari-2-weeks-to-negotiate-with-aaron-team-see-list-of-names/

WhatsApp is to cease support for a number of operating systems by the end of 2016, the company announced yesterday.

With Android and iOS dominating the smartphone realm, and Microsoft’s Windows Phone / Windows 10 Mobile still clinging on, the Facebook-owned company has revealed it will end support for BlackBerry (including BlackBerry 10), Nokia S40, and Nokia Symbian S60 by the end of this year. Additionally, it will no longer support Android 2.1 and 2.2 or Windows Phone 7.1.

The news comes in the same week that WhatsApp celebrated its seventh anniversary and also comes shortly after it passed one billion monthly active users (MAUs).

“When we started WhatsApp in 2009, people’s use of mobile devices looked very different from today,” the announcement read. “The Apple App Store was only a few months old. About 70 percent of smartphones sold at the time had operating systems offered by BlackBerry and Nokia. Mobile operating systems offered by Google, Apple and Microsoft – which account for 99.5 percent of sales today – were on less than 25 percent of mobile devices sold at the time. As we look ahead to our next seven years, we want to focus our efforts on the mobile platforms the vast majority of people use.”

While the news will no doubt be greeted with dismay in many regions, particularly developing markets where Nokia’s older operating systems still enjoy some market share, it makes sense for a company to focus its efforts on platforms that the vast majority of its users are on. WhatsApp has evolved a great deal since its inception as a simple mobile-messaging app — it now offers voice calls, and video calls are reportedly being added too. And it seems this, in part at least, explains why the company is looking to refocus its efforts in terms of the platforms it supports.

“While these mobile devices have been an important part of our story, they don’t offer the kind of capabilities we need to expand our app’s features in the future,” the announcement explained. “This was a tough decision for us to make, but the right one in order to give people better ways to keep in touch with friends, family, and loved ones using WhatsApp.”


Moreover, when BlackBerry itself is no longer focusing on its native operating system, well, who can blame WhatsApp for ditching it?

Moving forward, WhatsApp has one piece of advice for any of its users who are still using one of the aforementioned operating systems: Upgrade to iPhone, a more modern Android, or a Windows Phone device by the end of 2016.

http://venturebeat.com/2016/02/27/whatsapp-to-end-support-for-blackberry-nokia-and-other-older-operating-systems-by-the-end-of-2016/

More reactions have continued to trail the stalemate in Abia following the issuance of governorship Certificate of Return to Mr Uche Ogah of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) by INEC.

The electoral body had last week issued the certificate in obedience to an Abuja Federal High Court ruling on the sitting governor’s tax payment before the 2015 poll, directing that Ogah should be sworn-in as governor. But Gov. Okezie Ikpeazu, who won the PDP’s ticket, had refused to vacant office as he had appealed the judgment.

Mr Ayo Ayodele, a former Ogun Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) Chairman, said Ikpeazu should vacate office as ruled by the court. According to him, it is better for the governor to respect the judgement of the court than to resort to violence.


“We cannot have two governors in a state and the honourable thing for him to do is to obey the court judgement and later take the matter to the Supreme Court.

“I want to commend Mr Uche Ogah, who has been declared governor to take over and the incumbent governor, Ikpeazu for maintaining peace which is fundamental and important,” he told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).

For a Lagos-based lawyer, Mr Ejike Okpe, what had happened in Abia was an attempt to make a mockery of the nation’s judicial system.

Okpe, however, noted that INEC was“ too hasty” in issuing a certificate of return to Ogah in the light of an appeal and a motion for stay of execution against the judgment at the Court of Appeal which was duly served on the respondents including INEC.


“It is trite law that the filing of a notice of appeal does not operate as a stay, but where a notice of appeal coupled with a motion for stay of execution of the judgment appealed against is pending at the Court of Appeal, the law requires the parties to maintain the status quo pending the determination of the appeal.

”It would have amounted to setting a bad precedent if Ogah had been sworn-in as the governor in the light of the pendency of the notice of appeal and motion for stay of the judgment of the lower court as well as the injunction restraining the State Chief Judge from swearing him in,” he said in an interview.

“Dr Okezie Ikpeazu remains the governor of Abia until the appeal process is completed.”

He also said that since the parties are already ventilating their grievances in the courts, it was incumbent on them to allow the judicial process to be completed to avoid heating up the polity.

Also commenting on the Abia impasse, Mr Dotun Adetunji, the immediate past Chairman, Ikorodu Branch of NBA in Lagos State, said the court ought not to have issued an order that INEC should issue a certificate of return and for the new entrant to assume office.

“The courts are not just an arbiter of the temple of justice on legal/civil disputes, they are also an arbiter of social lives of the people. “I am sure that the court which hoisted the incumbent governor knew that he would likely appeal that judgment.

“The court is supposed to entrench normalcy in our polity both at the legal and social levels.

“And so, the High Court of first judgment ought to pass the duty to the appellate court to rule on who should be the legitimate occupant of the Abia Governor’s office.

“By so doing, the court has allowed our society to avoid this socio-political malady Abia politics now finds itself.”

He urged the authorities of the nation’s judiciary to conduct more training for judges especially on electoral matters to escape the conflicting judgments that could threaten the polity.

Adetunji added:“We as lawyers are amazed with some of these judgments that conflict with one another.

“These conflicting judgments give the impression that the minds that made them were either not trained enough or not grounded on the social responsibility of the law to the society.’’

The current Chairman of Ikorodu NBA, Mr Levi Adikwaone, said the appellate court should be given eminent jurisdiction to speedily adjudicate on the issues in Abia politics. He described the conflicting rulings from the two High Courts as embarrassing to the nation’s judiciary and drawbacks to Nigeria’s democratization.

He said:“I expect that the status quo should remain while the Appeal Court clears the air on all issues about the imbroglio of who is governor and politics that mar the political development of Abia State. “It will bAe most ingenious for the nation’s judiciary to allow the Appeal Court address all the issues while all the parties maintain their initial status until then.’’

Odunayo Ogunmola
Ado Ekiti
July 05, 2016
4:11 pm


A former Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Ekiti State, Dr. Temitope Aluko, on Tuesday said Ekiti State Governor, Ayo Fayose and the former Minister of State (Defence) Musiliu Obanikoro, clashed over the huge cash deployed for the June 21, 2014 governorship poll in the state.

Aluko, who disclosed this during a live interview programme on ADABA 88.9 FM monitored by our correspondent, said Zenith Bank did not sponsor the governor’s election campaign.

He explained that Zenith Bank only gave Fayose N200 million after he had won the governorship election.
Aluko, who claimed that Fayose did not have up to N10 million in his personal account before contesting the governorship election in 2014, added that the governor’s primary election was sponsored by Transformation Ambassadors of Nigeria (TAN) and the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).

He claimed that it was after Fayose had won the primary election that cash from the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) and oil contractors was deployed to fund the election campaign.

He said Zenith Bank and other corporate organizations came with business proposals after Fayose had won the election, insisting that the governor’s claim that his campaign was sponsored by Zenith Bank was a “blatant lie.”

Aluko said during the interview that Fayose purchased five houses with the N2.3 billion, which was a remainder of the slush funds from ONSA in choice locations in Abuja, Banana Island and Victoria Island in Lagos.
Speaking on the feud between Fayose and Obanikoro on the arms cash, Aluko stated that a crisis of confidence broke out between the duo following discovery that there was a shortfall of N80 million in the money ferried by plane to Akure for the governorship election.

He said: “The Presidency gave us security and money, the money was sent from a Diamond Bank branch through an account run by Sylvan MacNamara, a company owned by Obanikoro.

“My boss (Fayose) said he wanted to get his own in cash and that was why arrangement was made to get his own in cash and that was why such a huge amount (N2.1 billion) was ferried by plane. Obanikoro cannot claim not to have brought the money.

“He (Fayose) chose his man, Abiodun Agbele, to keep the money in a Zenith Bank account and the money was lodged at Zenith Bank, Alagbaka Branch in Akure. The transaction was not recorded and it got to a stage when it was discovered that the money was short by N80 million.

“This caused a crisis between Fayose and Obanikoro who brought money thrice from Abuja. He (Obanikoro) brought other things apart from money which I won’t disclose now and it was from it that N1 billion was released to INEC officials to manipulate Ekiti and Osun polls.

“Fayose was threatening former President Goodluck Jonathan that he (Fayose) must deliver so that Jonathan will win in Southwest. All the PDP elders were kept out of picture on the transactions and cash and some of the cash deployed did not get to their destinations.

“The cash carried on the plane was not entered into the plane manifest, the N2.1 billion was delivered to a bank at 4:30am in Ekiti. The N2.3 billion remaining from the total cash received for the election was used to buy house in Abuja and the house belongs to Fayose.
“Fayose purchased five houses in Victoria Island and Banana Island. The property in Dubai was purchased by a fellow who is known as Bisi in Ekiti but is known as Femi abroad. Questions are being asked on the N3 billion used to purchase the Dubai property but I strongly believe that we will recover our money.”

Source: http://thenationonlineng.net/fayose-obanikoro-clashed-arms-cash-aluko/

bdazzled:
I am not happy at all, i have decided not to write ICAN again, started from ATS1.......written this skills level 3 times now,passed MGE previous diet, passed FR now, if i write NOV again that will be the fourth diet, its so demorilizing for me, ordinary public sector been battling with it since 2015....i have just been crying.....i read so much for this diet, i myself knew i read.....everyone around me will just say they think i am over working myself with this exam....but see now i have failed it again..........i am so sad, even my boss said with the way i have read he wont be happy with me if i dont pass, i am so scared to tell him now

Never give up. I learnt a fact: yge diet tou don't write is the diet ypu would have passed easily. Like you I started from ATS1 and I wrote the exams when a double star in any of the papers consigned you to a diet of rewriting all 4 papers (not funny). Whenever I fail, I shrug it off telling myself I am not going to lose this fight to ICAN. I keep telling myself I am smart and ICAN is not impossible!
About your boss, don't sweat it at all just joke about it and get back in the trenches, this is war and you don't lay down and die because a bullet grazed your skin! Go get them, Tiger!

Leyelyzo:
Thanks fellow and I say ameen to your prayers. Come see me jumping up and down like a kid.
SFM really gave me a tough time, wrote it four times. It was the only paper I sat for in the last diet and passed it with oriyomi 50 marks.

I am really greatful to God almighty. I spent four years plus writing ICAN

Trust me you no go fit sleep tonight. You go just de feel really good. I rejoice with you man. See you at the top!

Leyelyzo:
To God be the glory, I am now a chartered accountant. It's victory at last

Congratulations! I know how you feel now. I felt it too when I qualified. May the certificate bring you great job opportunities. My professional colleague.

Shinelle:
Results are out! I've passed my way into professional level ): yaaay... Thanks to God!

Congratulations. Enjoy the feeling for this week and get back to work immediately. I qualified in 2010 and I just love to hear success stories. I lecture SFM here in Port Harcourt. Wish you success in the remaining papers.

Lagos – Nyesom Wike, the Rivers State governor, has denied a story carried by a national daily (not Independent) on Friday June 24, 2016 alleging that one “Mr Kinsgsely Fubara”, said to be a Director of Finance and Administration, in the state’s Government House, made repeated withdrawals from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and Zenith Bank to the tune of N11 billion.
According to the report, the “suspicious withdrawals” on behalf of the Rivers State government were made between December 2015 and February 2016.
Dr. Austin Tam-George, the state Commissioner for Information and Communication, in a statement made available to Independent on Saturday, said “the government categorically denies this fabricated and irresponsible publication.”
Tam-George stressed that the Rivers State government never conducted such financial transactions, even as he described the report as patently false.
He stated the government had no record of any staff known as Kingsely Fubara, who he described as “a fictional character” created by the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the newspaper to embarrass the government and deceive the public.
Tam-George stated that the report also indicated that the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) had directed the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to probe “these so-called withdrawals”, stressing that such a directive, if true, would be “a manifestly illegal and ridiculous proposition.”
According to him, “by law, the Rivers State government is accountable to the Rivers State House of Assembly and the people of Rivers State, not to the Attorney General of the Federation.
“This is a totally fictitious report typically orchestrated by the APC and its media allies. But, the story raises fundamental questions about the moral horror that confronts a nation where an anti-graft agency becomes openly partisan in all its intentions and actions.
“There is universal concern that the EFCC is playing an extremely corrosive role in the current political dispensation. Rather than fight corruption in a professional and dispassionate manner, the EFCC behaves shamelessly like an integral organ of the APC.”
He described the anti-graft commission as a national embarrassment as he claimed that the agency had been targeting only opposition politicians and “critics of the failed policies of the APC government.”
Tam-George asked: “Has the EFCC ever heard of one Mr. Rotimi Amaechi, the former governor of Rivers State and current Minister of Transport? Despite receiving over N3trillion in eight years as governor, Amaechi left the most abandoned projects in the history of Rivers State, since 1967. Several petitions against Amaechi, supported by sworn affidavits, have all been summarily ignored by the EFCC.
“Even chieftains of the APC have publicly acknowledged Rotimi Amaechi’s stupendous financial contributions to the party’s presidential campaign in 2015. These financial contributions, estimated to be in billions of naira, constitute serious financial crime against the people of Rivers State.
“The government and people of Rivers State will resist any politically motivated targeting of its leaders by any agency of the Federal Government, by whatever name it is called.”

- See more at: http://independentnig.com/2016/06/26/efcc-a-national-embarrassment-wike/#sthash.ukNRkeNl.dpuf

Trina0936:
Hello, I sent you a pm.

Yeah I just replied you ma'am