Anti-gay bill: US threatens to sanction Nigeria

The US has threatened to sanction Nigeria following President Jonathan's signing of the Same-Sex Prohibition Act 2014. The world power is threatening to scale down its support for HIV/AIDS and anti-malaria programmes in Nigeria. This was made known yesterday Jan. 20th by James Entwistle, the US Ambassador to Nigeria.

Mr Entwistle said he was worried about "the implications of the anti-same sex marriage law which seems to restrict the fundamental rights of a section of the Nigerian population."
Sent from my BlackBerry wireless device from MTN

Nigerian Islamists kill 18, burn houses in northeast

MAIDUGURI, Nigeria: Islamist militants stormed a village in remote northeast Nigeria on Monday, torching houses and spraying them with bullets in an attack that killed 18 people, witnesses said.

The latest Boko Haram assault, on Sunday night, came hours before Nigeria's four top military chiefs handed over to fresh commanders in a ceremony on Monday.

President Goodluck Jonathan announced the reshuffle of his entire military leadership last week in a bid to reinvigorate the fight against the insurgents.

"Most of those who survived the attack have fled the village as they do not know if they will be attacked again," said Bulama Ibrahim, the chief of Alau Ngawo village, which was attacked some time after 10 p.m. on Sunday. He said he had counted 18 bodies after the shooting and many houses burned.

A former local councilor, Mustapha Galtimare, who was on the scene after the attack, concurred with the numbers of dead.

The village lies in remote northeastern Borno state, the epicentre of the insurgency and relic of Nigeria's oldest medieval Islamic caliphate, which once prospered from trans-Saharan trade routes passing though the largely Muslim north.

Boko Haram is fighting to re-establish an Islamic kingdom in northern Nigeria, breaking away from the largely Christian south. Its fighters have killed thousands of people since they launched an uprising in mid-2009.

"They had been in the village for nearly two hours without any security personnel coming to the aid of the villagers," Ibrahim said.

A military spokesman in Borno state, Colonel Muhammadu Dole, said he was aware of the attack but had no details.

Jonathan declared a state of emergency in the northeast last May and ordered in extra troops and air strikes on Islamist bases. It appeared to quell the violence at first, but as is often the case, the insurgents reemerged from the shadows and are now more open in their targeting of civilians.

Boko Haram remains the most serious security headache to Africa's top oil producer and second biggest economy, although the military offensive has squeezed them into smaller pockets along the Cameroon border.

On Dec. 2 Boko Haram gunmen stormed the air force base and military barracks around the airport of the northeastern city of Maiduguri. The group was also blamed for a car bomb in the city this week that killed 29 people.
Sent from my BlackBerry wireless device from MTN

Lesbian? : Tonto Dikeh, Spotted posing With Her Maid

To most of us, Tonto Dikeh is the very fantastic and talented actress (a bit unsure as I've  never watched her in a movie, except when she fell off stage, which in my opinion, deserved an Oscar nomination at least), and to a very few, Tonto is known to be the sad disturbed single Nollywood actress who lives in her mansion with her litter of dogs…and just recently, a housemaid too.

For celebrities with large follower-ship on social media, everything they share almost always has a motive, and is well orchestrated to wet the appetite of their fans. Tonto Dikeh recently took her maid out for a treat, which shouldn't be an issue except that it confirms that:
-She is sweet and caring
-She is lonely and has no friends
-Or she is gay and in a relationship with her housemaid
Out of the listed possible reasons, it is fair to say that the third is a bit more eye-catching, and maybe TRUE.
Below is a photo of Tonto Dikeh caressing the pure bosoms of her maid in public, and admittedly got the poor girl tipsy.
Sent from my BlackBerry wireless device from MTN

APC Members Vow To Disobey Court Over Leadership Changes In House Of Reps

ABUJA—Members of the All Progressives Congress, APC, in the House of Representatives, yesterday, vowed to disobey a court order restraining them from effecting leadership changes in the House today.
Rising from an emergency meeting late evening, the lawmakers said they would change the House leadership today, barring any last minute change of decision, upon the plurality attained by the party after the defection of 37 members of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP to the APC last December.
The legislators insisted that the court order did not come to them as a surprise because they had prior knowledge of its outcome.
The ruling PDP had on January 7, filed a suit seeking an order to stop APC lawmakers from making any leadership change in the House.
Joined in the suit were the Speaker, Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, his deputy, Emeka Ihedioha, House Leader Mulikat Akande-Adeola, her deputy Leo Ogor and Chief Whip, Isiaka Bawa, among other principal officers.
Justice Adeiyi Ademola in entertaining the case, yesterday, issued an order restraining the principal officers and other lawmakers from making any leadership change, by maintaining the status quo ante.
However, APC Representatives rejected the court verdict.
An APC lawmaker, Rep Ali Sani Madaki from Kano State, who attended yesterday's meeting toldVanguardthat the court lacked the jurisdiction to issue such an order, describing it as "a black market judgement."
He said: "Hopefully, we will make the changes today at plenary since we now have the majority and are expecting more members to join us.
"Yes, the order has been issued, but our decision is that we will not accept this black market judgement."
"This is illegal, and as lawmakers we won't accept any illegality. This will not be accepted anywhere in the world."

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2014/01/apc-members-vow-disobey-court-leadership-changes-house-reps/
Sent from my BlackBerry wireless device from MTN

Davido – "Don’t expect much from me this year"

We all know he made a lot of successful hits last year which everybody enjoyed a lot but the African superstar made the announcement on his twitter account that he will focus mainly on all the artiste under the umbrella of his HKN music and that he's not going to release any album rather much work from him this year, we are hoping for him to change his mind because he always make the kind of music we love in Africa. see tweet above.
Sent from my BlackBerry wireless device from MTN

Defection: Court stops APC Reps from changing House leadership

ABUJA — Temporary respite came the way of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Monday, as a Federal High Court sitting in Abuja, restrained members of the House of Representatives that defected to the All Progressive Congress, APC, from altering or changing the leadership of the House, pending the determination of a suit before the court.
Justice Ademola Adeniyi who made the order sequel to a suit that was filed before the High Court by the PDP, directed that members of the House should maintain their status-quo till February 3, when both the substantive suit and preliminary objections by the defendants will be heard.
It will be recalled that PDP had approached the court, begging it to issue an order of perpetual injunction that would restrain the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Aminu Tambuwal and 52 other lawmakers, from taking any step capable of changing the present leadership structure at the lower legislative chamber of the National Assembly.
Meanwhile, members of the House of Reps, led by the Speaker, challenged the jurisdiction of the court to dabble into what they said was purely an issue within the domestic affairs of the House.
In urging the court to dismiss PDP's suit as lacking in merit, the defendants, in their eighteen paragraphed counter-affidavit deposed to by one Mr. Mike Msenge, told the court that from prolonged practice of the House of Reps (1st defendant), the political party with majority of members in the House forms its core leadership.
According to them, "The Plaintiff/Applicant is not a human being but is one of the registered political parties in Nigeria. The leadership seats in question are being occupied by the 2nd -8th defendants, who are human beings.
"That I have perused the Constitution of Nigeria and have not seen anywhere the Plaintiff/Applicant has voting rights with respect to the enthronement or removal from office of any or all of the 2nd -8th defendants.
"That before the defection of the 12th – 53rd defendants from the plaintiff to the APC, the plaintiff had majority membership in the 1st defendant; hence the 2nd-8th defendants, being members of the plaintiff, were elected into those leadership positions they are currently occupying in the 1st defendant.
"But with the defection of the 12th -53rd defendants from the plaintiff to the APC on December 18, 2013, the plaintiff has lost its majority status, which has switched to the APC."
The lawmakers further challenged the locus-standi of the PDP to seek an interim injunction against them, noting that, "the plaintiff has decided to fight the battles of the 2nd -8th defendants while they are still alive and not complaining, without disclosing any sufficient interest in the legal tussle. We boldly submit that the plaintiff lacks locus-standi to do so.
"Supposing, for the sake of argument, that the 2nd defendant is removed today as the Speaker of the 1st defendant, will the plaintiff, which is not a member of the 1st defendant, be elected to replace the 2nd defendant? The answer is a resounding NO! The same goes with the 3rd to 8th defendants."
They further argued that the plaintiff's suit is not justiciable; saying the election and removal of the Speaker is an internal affair of the House which no political party has the jurisdiction to dabble into.
Sent from my BlackBerry wireless device from MTN

PDP chairman, Muazu, sworn in, warns against questionable primaries

The former Governor of Bauchi State, Alhaji Adamu Muazu, has been sworn in as the national chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party.

He was sworn in at the national secretariat of the party in Abuja located in Wadata Plaza, Zone Five, Abuja, on Monday afternoon.

Among those who witnessed the event were President Goodluck Jonathan; his deputy, Namadi Sambo; Senate President, Sen. David Mark; his deputy, Sen. Ike Ekweremadu and the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mr. Emeka Ihedioha.

Some governors, members of the Board of Trustees and former national chairmen of the party, were also in attendance.

Muazu, in his acceptance speech, acknowledged that there were challenges facing the party.

He said the era of questionable primaries were over and that free and fair elections would only start with free and credible primaries.

He said, "The beginning of credible, free and fair elections starts with credible, free and fair elections.

"The PDP as the leading party, must therefore, lead the way for other parties to follow. We cannot and will not condone questionable primary elections."
Sent from my BlackBerry wireless device from MTN