Today is the white wedding of media personality Ebuka Obi-Uchendu and Cynthia Obianodo in Abuja.
It appears the wedding won’t be star studded and would rather be private.
The groomsmen are however ready for the day. The list include Toolz’s Husband, Tunde Demuren, Banky W, Noble Igwe and Olamide Adedeji of Soundcity.
See photos below
From music to movies, to talk shows hosting and even sports, there are a lot of Nigerians, who have carved a niche for themselves internationally in these various sectors.
It definitely isn’t easy to blend in in a foreign land and even become a celebrity there… it’s gon take hard work! What’s good about this article is the fact that we actually have a handful of celebrities who hail from Nigeria and are recognized internationally as stars.
As it’s the first weekend of the love month, how about we spice it up with a few of these celebrities who have actually made a name for themselves internationally.
These stars actually hail from Western Nigeria which is referred to as “Yorubaland“.
So how about you take a cue from me and grab a bottle of coke and buttered pop corn as we take a look at these stars in the next couple of pages.
Happy weekend folks!
1. GBENGA AKINNAGBE.
Starting off our list is Gbenga Akinnagbe (born December 12, 1978), the 37 year old is an American actor and writer, best known for his role as Chris Partlow on the HBO series, The Wire and also the last installment of 24 where he acted alongside Jack Bauer, Kiefer Sutherland.
Akinnagbe was given birth to in Washington, D.C., the son of Nigerian parents who are of Yoruba descent. He was raised in Silver Spring, Maryland.
A Kenyan National – Abraham Kiptum has won the Access Bank Lagos City Marathon!
The winning time was 2 hours, 16 minutes, 21 seconds for the marathon which kicked off Teslim Balogun Stadium in Surulere and ended at Eko Atlantic in Victoria Island.
Hundreds of runners registered for the race which had a $50,000 winner’s prize.
The first Nigerian is Emmanuel Gyang Gwom at the finish line, he finished in 7th place and will receive a N1,000,000 prize.
Checkout more photos below;
What would you do if your husband (or wife) tried to have you killed — but failed?
For Noela Rukundo, the answer was easy: Show up at her own funeral and make a scene.
It all started when she left her home in Australia to return to her native Burundi to attend her stepmother’s funeral.
“I had lost the last person who I call ‘mother’,” she says. “It was very painful. I was so stressed.”
After the funeral, she went back to her hotel room and got a call from her husband, Balenga Kalala. They have three kids together.
“He says he’d been trying to get me for the whole day,” Noela says. “I said I was going to bed. He told me, ‘To bed? Why are you sleeping so early?’
“I say, ‘I’m not feeling happy’. And he asks me, ‘How’s the weather? Is it very, very hot?’ He told me to go outside for fresh air.”
Noela took his advice.
“I didn’t think anything. I just thought that he cared about me, that he was worried about me.”
At that moment, she went outside and was confronted by a man with a gun. He eventually motioned her into a nearby car where she was blindfolded and driven “30 or 40 minutes” away.
They arrived at their destination and Noela was tied to a chair — still blindfolded. The men asked why anyone would place a hit on her to be killed before making a call to the man who hired them.
She heard her husband’s voice on the phone.
“I knew he was a violent man,” Noela admits to BBC. “But I didn’t believe he can kill me.”
What her husband didn’t know was that the hit men had a very strict ‘no women, no kids’ policy. They asked Noela’s husband for more money but he refused and they let her go.
“‘We give you 80 hours to leave this country,’” Noela says the gang told her. “‘Your husband is serious. Maybe we can spare your life, but other people, they’re not going to do the same thing. If God helps you, you’ll get to Australia.’”
Before leaving Noela by the side of a road, the gang handed her the evidence they hoped would incriminate her husband — a memory card containing recorded phone conversations of him discussing the murder and receipts for the Western Union money transfers.
“We just want you to go back, to tell other stupid women like you what happened,” the gang told Noela as they parted. “You must learn something: you people get a chance to go overseas for a better life. But the money you are earning, the money the government gives to you, you use it for killing each other!”
After all that, she made her way back to Australia three days later where she confronted her husband …AT HER OWN FUNERAL!
Her husband had told everyone that his wife had died in a tragic accident.
“It was around 7.30pm,” Noela says. “He was in front of the house. People had been inside mourning with him and he was escorting a group of them into a car.”
After everyone left, she made her move.
“I was stood just looking at him. He was scared, he didn’t believe it. Then he starts walking towards me, slowly, like he was walking on broken glass.
“He kept talking to himself and when he reached me, he touched me on the shoulder. He jumped.
“He did it again. He jumped. Then he said, ‘Noela, is it you?’… Then he start screaming, ‘I’m sorry for everything.’”
Noela called the police and had him arrested. He later admitted his guilt and has been sentenced to nine years in prison.
For more details, check out the full story over at BBC.
Jennifer Lopez and Ray Liotta’s hit NBC cop drama ‘Shades of Blue’ has will be returning for season 2.
via E!:
“We want to thank Jennifer, who is the hardest working woman we know, for her incredible efforts as both the star and producer of this show, as well as well as our other amazing producers and cast for all their tireless work in creating one of the most compelling dramas on television today,” NBC Entertainment President Jennifer Salke said in a statement. “We’re so excited to find out where this story will lead and have them raise the stakes even higher in what we know will be a fantastic second season.”
Shades of Blue also stars Drea de Matteo, Warren Kole, and Santino Fontana.
We’re just five episodes into season one — and we can’t wait to see more. Congrats to everyone involved!
A few days ago Burna Boy was made the new brand advocate for Martell Cognac, the announcement was made at the Winners part of The Martell 300 promo in Lagos.
MI Abaga who is also a Martell ambassador was also at the event.
Burna Boy’s new endorsement deal comes a few days after a TV presenter put him on blast for unprofessional behaviour.
See more photos below:
Nollywood actress, Fathia Balogun who turned a year older yesterday, has released brand new photos pf her beautiful look to mark her special day.
The actress Make up was done by I-posh and photography by Squard Media Trick.
Rihanna’s dad, Ronald Fenty, told Mirror in a recent interview that he wish Riri is still in a relationship with Chris Brown.
Rihanna who just dropped her new album ANTI talked about Chris on a track titled ‘Love on the brain’ in which she sings, “It beats me black and blue but it f**** me so good / And I can’t get enough.”
Ronald said, “I like her stories but this song was tough to listen to. Chris will always have a place in our family and my heart.He respects me, calls me pops and I like him – despite what happened.
He’s very talented and always humble. I’d support them being together. It was a very difficult time for the whole family. Nobody wants to see their daughter hurt.”
Fenty also said,
“I remember I had a phone call from one of her old security guards, he told me he and a biker gang were going to ride to Chris for revenge.”I was angry but it’s a long way to go, I wanted to go. I told them to give me a few days because I felt like doing it myself, you know? I was going to fly in, get picked up from LAX and ride to Chris’ place so I could do it myself.
When I called him the next day to arrange everything I cooled down and put a stop to it. She doesn’t know about this, she was going through enough.”
G-Unit rapper 50 cent took to Instagram on February 4 to mock Puff Daddy.
‘LMAO SO PUFFY WIT THE SHIT HUN ? ? SEE YOU GOTTA WATCH THESE PUNKS? SCARY ASS NI66AS A TRY YOU. #nopuffyjuice he killed Your favorite Rapper’, 50 Cent writes for the caption of a screenshot of a New York Daily News story.
50 Cent also posted a video to Instagram that has since been deleted, according to AllHipHop.
‘I told you. You can’t trust these niggas,’ the rapper says while talking on the phone.
‘Puffy done killed Tupac, man.’
Nigerian singer and UN ambassador, Waje was recently interviewed on CNN’s ‘African Voices’ where she spoke about several issues including the African Women project, her new album and her mission to help homeless kids in Nigeria.
The songstress also talks about how she uses her music platform to impact lives and be a voice to several Nigerians as well as her forthcoming album and what her fans should expect from it.
Delectable Actress – Halima Abubakar rocked an Indian inspired look for a recent photoshoot.
. .and she looks all amazing.
See Photos Below:
About two days ago, news about raising N7m funds for veteran Actor Olumide Bakare, made the waves.
The actor who was diagnosed with heart and long related disease cried out at that time saying: “This is beyond me; I can no longer handle this on my own. I need financial assistance. Help me to beg Nigerians to help me so that I will not die. I need their prayers to survive this.” The actor claimed he needed 5 to 7 million to live again.
However, Best of Nollywood Tv, a site that shared the actor’s account details has said the actor might be lying as he is using the situation to milk good Nigerians.
According to them, the actor has already gotten N3.2m within 48 hours of the campaign and a politician is set to give him N3m. But an audio conversation is said to be available where olumide’s close friend spoke extensively about his true situation and in the conversation he alleged that the doctors in UCH told him that all he needs was less than 200,000 only.
Read full report made by Best Of Nollywood TV below;
“Two days ago we were approached to raise funds for veteran Actor Olumide Bakare, we were told he was in a bad shape and was dying.
We took time to speak to him and he claimed he had serious heart and lungs issues and needed between 5 and 7 million to live again,we went to town with the story and shared his account details across our various social media platforms.
But things seems to be falling apart as it now seems that the Actor exploited his situation to milk kind hearted Nigerians dry as various persons in UCH and his close friends spoke to us today that OLUMIDE BAKARE might be lying.
Instantly we took our time to find out and we realised that within 48hrs of the campaign olumide had grossed 3.2m and a top actress had also secured a prominent politician who was to visit him on Monday with 3m.
We are in possession of an 11 minute audio conversation where olumide’s close friend spoke extensively about his true situation and in the conversation he alleged that the doctors in UCH told him that all he needs was less than 200 Thousand Naira
When we challenged him he had just one answer for us, “I don’t need the money of nollywood and if I have been here since January 18th without nollywood I will survive”
Below is a screen shot of a chat of a top UCH staff:
Here’s an interesting article written by Vanguard staff writers, Benjamin Njoku & Ifechi Okoh.
Today, take a look at some of the front-line Nollywood actors and actresses who ventured into music but could not continue after releasing one or two singles.
Genevieve Nnaji was the first Nollywood actress to delve into music, after she was suspended from acting alongside some of her colleagues in 2005. She released her first single, “No More” which earned her a mouth-watering recording deal in Ghana, before she went underground.
Ten years after she released that song, the respected actress has never made any attempt again to rock the microphone.
The last that was heard of her was when D’banj featured her in the music video of his “Fall in Love”song. Pundits are convinced that the star of “Ije: The Journey” and “Tangle with Me” did not only lack the carriage and drive to sustain her dream as a budding singer, but also, she wasn’t as hot as the likes of Tiwa Savage, Yemi Alade, Seyi Shay, Cynthia Morgan among others.
No doubt, she has a great voice and a great personality, but like her colleagues, she doesn’t have what it takes to reach gold status as a singer.
In a world where evil is far easier to remember than good, Abimbola Jayeola’s landmark achievement in December 2014 largely escaped the notice of mainstream media. That month, she became Nigeria’s first female helicopter captain.
But it does seem that Jayeola is one woman who is irrevocably destined for glory; and if she won’t be properly celebrated for making history back then, it is impossible that she will again be overlooked this time — on Thursday, February 4, 2016, her shrewd decision-making helped to avert the death of 11 Nigerians, plus yet another aviation-industry crisis.
Jayeola it was who flew the 5B BJQ Bristow helicopter that was headed to Lagos from Port Harcourt but ended up “ditching” into the Atlantic Ocean.
The chopper, with 11 people — mostly ExxonMobil staff — and two crew members on board, sent a distress message shortly after 10am, and crashed into the Atlantic 20 minutes later. About 10 minutes later, MV-DIJAMA, a new vessel owned by local Nigerian company L.A.T.C Marine Ltd, was alerted on the accident.
It arrived at the crash scene around 11.50am and started rescue operation, with all the passengers already wearing their life jackets. MV-DIJAMA launched its Fast Rescue Boat immediately and started receiving the casualties from the chopper’s LifeRafts. The accident happened 70 nautical miles off Lagos.
The crash was not entirely incident-free. Three survivors suffered “hypothermia” — a potentially dangerous drop in body temperature usually caused by prolonged exposure to cold temperatures, in this case the Atlantic Ocean.
Another survivor had a swollen arm, while the fifth had swollen shoulder. But it has now been revealed that were it not for the captain, all the lives aboard would have perished.
In a post that is fast trending on social networking site Facebook, someone with close ties to the captain, but who did not want to come public because the matter is “personal”, wrote:
“Let’s celebrate and thank God for our Female Capt Abimbola Jayeola, who was the Capt on the Bristow Chopper that ditched in the Atlantic Ocean on Wednesday.
“A split second’s decision saved the lives of 13 people and several families linked to them. Kudos to You Skipper, God will continue to protect you as you take to the skies daily. Stay safe!”
Despite the reticence of the lady who posted the message, “a split second’s decision” implied the captain had to decide what was best for the helicopter, and the result is the sparing of the passengers’ and crew members’ lives.
This feat will attract due recognition when one remembers that only last year, a Bristow helicopter similarly departing Port Harcourt for Lagos crashed in the Oworonshoki area of Lagos, killing six people, including the captain, who joined the transport services company only the previous year.
Is anyone still doubting the saying that “what a man can do, a woman can do better” — or, as the incurable male chauvinists would say in parody, “what a man can do, a woman can also try”?
A standing ovation for the lady captain!
– Thecable
Delectable Singer – Yemi Alade looked stunning in a fringe crop top and Ankara pants.
The singer also revealed she is very much single and has given clues on the characters her ideal man must possess.
She told Saturday Beats:
“I like my man to be God fearing; have a good sense of style and good humour. He has to be one that has ambition and purpose and he must show it, not just talk about it.
According to Facebook user, Basudde Sam, the man pictured above was arrested for overtaking the convoy of Uganda’s Vice President, Edward Ssekandi.
See Photos Below:
Delectable Nollywood Actress, Rita Dominic looked all fabulous for the private screening of movie, 76, a few days ago.
That’s Flawless Makeup Right There.
Nollywood Actress Faithia Williams who turned a year older yesterday, was hosted by her colleagues and friends to a surprise birthday dinner at Oriental Hotel, Victoria Island.
Desmond Elliot, Ieti Osayemi Bakare, Iyabo Ojo, Doris Ekere, Foluke Daramola, Ronke Odusanya, Dayo Amusa, Femi Adebayo, Muyiwa Ademola, Liz Da Silva and more stars were present for the surprise birthday dinner.
See Photos Below:
Meek Mill was sentenced yesterday to at least 90 days on house arrest with an ankle monitor. The rapper isn’t allowed to work or release any new music. He can only do charitable work for the community.
Read a Report From TMZ Below:
Meek Mill just got the best possible outcome at his sentencing for probation violation — zero time behind bars. A Philadelphia judge gave Meek 6 to 12 months in county jail, BUT he will be allowed to serve the time on house arrest.
He will do a minimum of 90 days, and won’t be able to do his regular job — rapping and performing, he can only do charitable work for the community.
That ban from work includes releasing any mixtapes. Translation: No new diss tracks aimed at Drake … for a while.
The judge will reevaluate after 90 days to determine how much longer he’ll remain under house arrest. Meek had been on probation for a 2009 drug and gun conviction when he skipped town for the AMAs in November without getting written permission from his probation officer.
He also failed a pee test. A judge ruled in December he was in violation, despite heartfelt testimony from gf Nicki Minaj and Meek’s own waterworks.
Nicki was in court on Friday, and was even brought into chambers with Meek and the judge to discuss what kind of charity work he’ll be doing. Meek has to turn himself in by March 1st, when he’ll get his ankle monitoring bracelet.
“When Power Meets Royalty”
Former President of Nigeria – Olusegun Obasanjo paid a visit to the New Ooni of Ife’s palace today and during the course of his visit, baba who is 81 years of age prostrated before the New Ooni of Ife.
I’m sure the Ooni would have been uncomfortable and perhaps tried to stop him…but trust Baba..
See More Photos Below:
Yesterday, we posted a story about how a Beauty Queen – Joyce Amarachi Mbatu was dethroned and had her contract cancelled after refusing to do a topless photoshoot. (click here to see if you missed it).
The management of VL Magazine, through the CEO have issued an official statement addressing Amarachi’s allegations.
Describing her as a “disgrace to womanhood” who wasn’t fit to be a “queen to a mechanic shop”. they contend that she was briefed about her duties as the face of the brand, and insist she was not asked to come to Benin for a topless shoot.
Read their statement below Words from the CEO:
“My manager called my attention to updates from different blogs about the dethroned queen bed … here is my official statement concerning all the controversies as regards the dethroned queen ( Amarachi Joyce Mbatu) During the time of the competition all contestants where informed that when the winner emerge the winner will do a bikini shoot as part of her portfolio and they all agreed (Amarachi inclusive).
All contestants where also informed that as a beauty queen of VL you must be avaliable at all times when the brand needs you and this includes traveling to other states/countries for jobs, I told them specifically that who ever won’t be able to meet with these requirements should quit and they all agreed and said they are available 100%.
(Amarchi Inclusive) When Amarachi won face of VL it was from one complain to another, she wanted things to go her which was not possible…As face of VL winner she was supposed to CO host our Tv show (Just Say It) with me but she opted out because she said her work won’t permit her to do that.
Amarachi was supposed to come to Benin city for a shoot but she declined at first saying her parents won’t allow her travel , In the end she agreed to travel but saying she will stay for just 3 hours.
I spent more than 100 thousand naira to make sure Amarachi coming to Benin was stress a free one. Amarachi tricked us saying she was coming to Benin only to call us 2 hours later saying her flight was cancelled.
I told her to send me her booking and flight number which she did and I traced the flight and discovered Amarachi didn’t book any flight to Benin.
When you are on a contract with a brand as a beauty queen or whatsoever you are supposed to be available at all times when the brand needs you but in Amarachi’s case she wanted to dictate for the brand which is unheard of and inappropriate .
She even said she won’t always be available for the brand at all times because her job was a constraint Amarachi was not dethroned because we told her to do a topless shoot, she was disqualified because of her lack of commitment, availability and not been able to meet up with the brands requirements……Amarachi agreed to do a bikini shoot even before the competition as of part of her portfolio which every beauty queen does after winning a competition, after winning she said she didn’t want it anymore……we didn’t tell Amarachi to come to Benin and do a topless shoot….. I want to say I am very disappointed in Amarachi for coming on social media trying to tarnish the image of the brand, she is a disgrace to womanhood and a very big liar….she is not even fit enough be a queen of a mechanic workshop. Thanks for your support…..God bless”
-Theo Olele CEO/Publisher
VL Magazine Africa
American former stripper, Blac Chyna, has shared a new photo via her instagram page looking all delectable in a Danshiki vest.
The mother-of-one rocked a tight black long sleeved playsuit and a pair of black suede stiletto boots.
Chyna wore the long vest over the entire get up, giving it a splash of colour with the kente material in red.
The model shared the photo with the caption:
“@dashikipride is having a SALE, all dashikis are only $20 now for the first annual @dashikipride month. Shop at www.dashikipride.com and follow @dashikipride for more styles #dashikipride.”
Apparently, RadarOnline is claiming Kim Kardashian is fed up with Kanye’s Obsession with Amber Rose and that their marriage has reached it’s breaking point.
Read their report below:
Kanye West‘s epic rant about Amber Rose didn’t just infuriate Wiz Khalifa. RadarOnline.com has learned his wife Kim Kardashian went ballistic and kicked him out of the house over his public meltdown!
When West went off on Khalifa, calling his baby mama Rose a “stripper,” Yeezus was slapped down by his ex’s X-rated response.
She wrote, “are u mad I’m not around to play in ur a**hole anymore?”
Kim is absolutely mortified by Amber’s post,” Life & Style magazine reported. “She said she’s never felt so humiliated in her life.”
And so, the report claims, the 35-year-old mother of West’s two children went to extremes to punish her husband.
“She was so angry, she wouldn’t let Kanye into the house,” a source told the magazine. “She changed all the codes and asked security not to let him through the gate.”
“She was fuming with Kanye for antagonizing Amber. She said she’s had enough. She believes every word of what Amber wrote. All she wanted to do was crawl under the covers and never show her face again.”
Rose previously said that West cheated on her with Kardashian, but North West‘s mother doesn’t believe her hubby is over his ex, according to the report.
“Kim accused Kanye of reveling in the drama of feuding with his ex and of still being obsessed with her,” the source said. “Kim told Kanye he should be ashamed of himself for what he’s done to her and the family.”
And this ultimately might be the end of her third marriage, the source said.
“Kim is so enraged, she’s considering divorce,” the source said. “She said she can’t take much more. This latest saga has just proved to her how destructive Kanye is. She’s convinced that if she stays with him, he’ll take her down with him.”
During the week, few online platforms and bloggers published a report claiming Adams Oshiomole’s New wife – Iara Oshiomole had filed for a divorce after complaining her husband was too fetish.
Iara has reacted via a state released today putting the rest the claims as untrue. Iara’s spokesperson described the report “as warped imagination of the purveyors of lies” insisting that Iara had no reason to leave her husband as their marriage is strong.
The press statement which was issued by Executive Director, Media and Public Affairs, Governor’s Office, John Mayaki, states that the Edo First Lady has been busy holding meetings & brainstorming on how to better the lots of the less-privileged Women and Children in the state through her pet project.
“The rumour mongers are well advised to find more productive engagements to deploy their energies rather than market inanities about public personalities all in their bid to sell their medium. Which Court of Law was the alleged divorce initiated and to whom was it served? Which country, state, municipal or county, if any, is the Court situated? And when was the action/suit filed? Of course the writers didn’t bother to inform their readers. The truth however is that the answers only exist in the warped imagination of the purveyors of the lies” the statement read…
New reports have confirmed that the students of Ambrose Ali University, Ekpoma, Edo State, burned down their department building after their results showed mass failure in the last semester exams.
According to an eye witness who shared the story:
“This is a burning office in AAU Ambrose Ali University. It happened today around 1 am. This isn’t the first time this is happening. And it always happen wen results are out. The students felt the lecturers gave them bad result on purpose. And they burnt the whole department building with everything in it. The departments involved are civil engineering and philosophy. Microbiology and education were also burnt to the ground.”
2Face Idibia is set to drop a new love song to celebrate this year’s Valentine’s day that’s just a few days away. The new song, titled ‘Officially Blind’, is coming barely a week after his last song release ‘Coded tinz’ that features Phyno and Chief Obi.
Ghanaian Star, Chris Attoh had a chat with Hip TV recently and the star spoke about how it feels being married to Nollywood actress Damilola Adegbite, going into directing and more.
Speaking about how it feels to be married to a Nigerian woman he says “I need that. I need the fire”.
Talking about making the transition into directing he says “Right now I am very excited because I’ve just made the transition from actor to director.”
Watch the rest of his interview below.
Ini Edo has confirmed her appointment as Special Adviser on Tourism to the governor of Akwa Ibom State. Posing in her beautiful extravagant closet, she wrote
“To be called to serve is an honour.I give God all de glory. Am grateful to my state, my Governor, everyone of you with your constant prayers and support… God bless us all. Amen”
Yesterday Rita Dominic was the star on the red carpet at the private screening for a brand new movie called – 76.
The movie which was produced in conjunction with MNet’s Africa Magic also stars Ramsey Nuoah & Chidi Mokeme.
It tells the story of a young officer from the Middle Belt who gets entangled in a romantic relationship and eventually marries a beautiful student from the South-Eastern part of Nigeria.
Their budding romance is threatened by endless military postings, and they face the ultimate test when news of the soldier’s involvement in a botched coup attempt hits the headlines.
Check on the red carpet pics after the jump!
The Wait Is Over! The much anticipated single of RuggedMan is finally out. Ruggedman starts off 2016 with his highly anticipated track titled “Seyi Shay” Ft. YBNL boss Olamide aka BaddoSneh.
Produced by Tyrone and Mixed by MarQai.
‘LMAO SO PUFFY WIT THE SHIT HUN ? ? SEE YOU GOTTA WATCH THESE PUNKS? SCARY ASS NI66AS A TRY YOU. #nopuffyjuice he killed Your favorite Rapper’, 50 Cent writes for the caption of a screenshot of a New York Daily News story.
