Here are Pictures from the Burial Ceremony of The late Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Barrister James Ocholi, his wife Blessing and son, Joshua Ocholi who died in a car accident.
The Funeral service took place at their hometown in Kogi state. May their souls rest in peace…Amen!
See Photos Below:
Wife of Legendary Footballer, Kanu Nwankwo – Amara shared beautiful photos with her daughter during a recent holiday in Washington DC.
See Photos Below:
Son of embattled Nollywood actress, Ibinabo Fiberesima, Sean Coughlan, has spoken from his base abroad on the ongoing challenges his mother is facing.
Sean who plays football, was surprised at the way things have turned out for his mother who recently got married with the hope of starting a new life with her family.
He could not help but wonder how his mother will spend five years in prison and as a result of this, he has penned down an emotional note to his mother indicating that no matter what might happen, he still loves her.
In his words, “My queen, no matter what, love this woman more than anything.”
For now, the actress family are in prayers hoping that things will turn to their favour as they continue with their daily prayers.
Iyanya and His partner, co-owner of Triple MG – Ubi Franklin has signed a new artist – Chibbz to their record label.
The ‘Kukere’ crooner took to Instagram a while ago to announce the signing and then unveil their new artist.
He wrote:
“Meet the young talented Chibbz (Chibuikem Nwakanma), he was born in Abia state in Nigeria but moved to the United States at the age of 11, by the age of 13 he realized his talent in music which initially was rap music.
He had to face his studies due to strong educational family background but it didn’t hinder him from indulging in the arts. He won talent shows in high school and while attending University (Columbia College Chicago) he opened up for artist like; Iyanya, P-Square, Kevin Lyttle etc.
He earned his Bachelors degree in Business Administration in Marketing in 2014 and moved back to Lagos, Nigeria October 2015 to pursue his music career.
His genre of music is Afrobeats. Despite having been raised in The States, he is rooted in his culture and is very fluent in native language Igbo, which he infuses in his music in a very unique way.
He gained certain level of popularity through songs like; ‘So Long’, ‘Egwu’, ‘Oginidi’ and ‘Today Tomorrow’ all produced by longtime friend and producer Mobeatz, Chibbz is ready to make his mark in the Nigerian music industry and the world entirely.
Welcome to Made Men Music Group.”
Afeni Shakur, Mother of the late popular rapper, Tupac Shakur, filed for divorce from Gust Davis, her husband of 12 years — and he wants half of her late son Tupac’s royalties.
via TMZ:
Afeni filed in North Carolina, where judges are not required to divide property 50/50, but rather on a case-by-case basis to determine what’s fair. They have lots of property and he wants, among other things, the right to live on their 50 acre North Carolina ranch and wants the keys to the houseboats. Gust, who’s a minister, also wants to keep his sweet Jag.
Gust also wants alimony. We’re told the Tupac Estate rakes in around $900k a year, but according to Gust, after expenses Afeni gets around $20k a month. We’re told he wants $10k a month for the rest of his life.
As for Afeni, she’s been separated from Gust for a little more than a year. She’s currently living on a houseboat in Sausalito, CA.
Afeni has filed legal docs asking the judge to shut down Gust’s alimony request.
Nollywood actress, Foluke Daramola-Salako opened up about her marriage, life, style and career in a recent interview.
The volumptious star and humanitarian when asked about her boobs revealed it hurts when people talk about her big boobs rather her intellectual abilities.
The actress who recently renewed her vows with her hubby told the New Telegraph:
“It pains me because there is a whole lot to me than just the boobs and entertainment. I am an intellectual. I am one person who relate with education, but unfortunately or fortunately, I will say that people just think about Foluke and the next thing they think about are my boobs. I count it as an asset and I have grown to just appreciate it the way it is.”
Foluke recently revealed she will be dealing with her anger issues amongst other things this year.
According to her, “My new year resolution is to finish all my unfinished projects and deal with my weakness in anger management and to spend more time on my newest baby -my talk show “The morning After” and work on my foundation (PARA) Passion Against Rape and Abuse in Africa.”
Last October, Foluke Daramola says she is okay with her body size and is comfortable with it.
In an interview with The Sun newspapers she admitted that she might want to lose a pound or two, but she is okay just the way she is.
Nigerian Senate President, Bukola Saraki, won the first part of his battle to stop his trial at the Code of Conduct Tribunal, by letting tribunal hear his motion over jurisdiction.
Government lawyer, Rotimi Jacobs told the Tribunal he has been served with defendants motion dated 4 March, 2015.
But he argued that going by sections 220, 221 and 396 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, the motion cannot be moved before beginning of hearing of the substantive case.
“The only thing the court can do now is to proceed to trial. I want Your Lordship to determine the issue now,” Jacobs said. He further explained that the of ACJA stipulated that technical objections cannot be raised during trial.
He added section 396 (2) said after a plea has been taken, the defendant can raise any objection which can only be considered alongside the substantive trial.
According to him, the defendant is challenging the validity of the charges by saying the Attorney General did not have power to filed charges against him or that he was not informed before the charges were filed against him.
Jacobs urged the Tribunal to enforce the ACJA to ensure that justice is done according to the law. Jacob said the court should allow the prosecution to call his witness.
Kanu Agabi, for Saraki said the defence is happy to be in court and the opportunity to defend him.
He argued that motion is part of administration of justice and the Tribunal should hear it.
He reminded the Tribunal Chairman that he ruled last Friday that the motion would be argued today.
The defence counsel said the motion is challenging the juridisction of the tribunal to hear the case.
Justice Umar however ruled that he is ready to hear the motion as anything done by the Tribunal without determination of the issue of juridisction will be nullity.
Agabi is about to move the motion now.
Culled:PM News
Super Falcons star Asisat Oshoala has completed her move to Arsenal Ladies from rivals, Liverpool Ladies.
Oshoala became the first player from Africa to play in the Women’s Super League when she joined Liverpool in January 2015.
Liverpool Ladies were forced to sell Oshoala to their rivals, Arsenal after they activated her release clause.
Oshoala joined Liverpool Ladies in January 2015, after her superb performance in the 2014 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup.
She missed two months of the 2015 season with a knee injury, as defending champions Liverpool finished seventh in the female League.
She however managed to score three goals in 12 league appearances for Liverpool.
Speaking on the signing, Arsenal Ladies manager, Pedro Losa described the 22-year-old as a fantastic talent who will be a great addition to the squad.
“She is quick, with excellent feet and has proven she can score goals so it’s very positive she has decided to join us,” Losa said.
Here's @asisato1 's cool finish to secure the 3pts for @LFCladies today as they beat @ArsenalLadies 3-1 http://t.co/hN79tFpfy7
— The FA WSL (@FAWSL) July 12, 2015
The agitations from candidates may have started yielding fruits as the House of Representatives has asked the Federal Ministry of Education to direct the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) to revert to pencil-paper method in the conduct of UTME or adopt both PPT and CBT so that candidates can opt for any one of their choice.
This followed a motion moved by a lawmaker from Lagos State, Mr. Oghene Emma-Egoh, on the “conflicting” scores of candidates who took the examination.
The law maker stressed that the technical errors experiences during the examination has invariably dashed the hopes of many of these candidates in gaining admission this year.
The law maker further pointed to two cases of conflicting results. One is that of Ibrahim Shawulu from Kogi State, who was said to have scored 399 out of 400, and in less than 24 hours his score was reduced to 199.”
Another is that of Foluke, the 17-year-old girl in Ejigbo-Lagos, who scored an aggregate of 156 and when the result was checked again she had an aggregate of 196.”
Based on these and other technical flaws that marred the conduct of the 2016 UTME, the house of Representatives is of the opinion that JAMB does not have what it takes to manage the Computer Based Test.
Following the ongoing nationwide strike of doctors, the immediate past president of the Association of Resident Doctors, University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital(UITH) branch, Dr. Oyinlola Oluwagbemiga and his successor, Dr. Ade Faponle, on Wednesday said that due to epileptic power supply in the hospital, doctors use lamps, torchlight and phone lights to treat patients.
Oluwagbemiga and Faponle spoke during a media briefing in Ilorin, the Kwara State capital.
According to Oluwagbemiga:
“There are certain procedures we embark upon, you have to complete them using your torchlight or phone lights. Imagine that you are in an emergency where you have to resuscitate a patient and you resort to that. It is that bad.
It even stretches to sanitation.We have reached the point where you are having a major procedure and all you can hear is ‘please we can only supply light for the next two hours, make sure you complete your operation.’ And there are operations that last for four or more hours.
So if you have such, you have to reschedule because you have been told ab-initio that you are on your own should you embark on such.”
The Director of Administration, UITH, Mr. Ganiyu Yusuf however said the management of the hospital spent about N16m monthly on diesel and N3m monthly on electricity bill to the Ibadan Distribution Electricity Company. Yusuf said,
“As management, we are not going to join issues with the resident doctors. But we are going to state the facts. It is not news that electricity generation in the country is bad. The problem affects everybody, not only the hospital. We spend N16m monthly to buy diesel.
We have a 500KV generator and another 350kv generator, as well as many other smaller generators to power each unit and department. The N16m that we pay is different from the N3m that we pay to IBEDC every month. Imagine what N19m could have done, if we had steady power supply in the country.
We have done what we could do as a management with the resources available. We have separate generators for many sections.
If you turn on the light in the hospital because of the operations the doctors will do, we keep it running until 4pm.
Even when the power is on, how many of the doctors are ready to perform surgeries? If we know that in our area power will come at a certain time, you programme your activities.
We lost three people in an attempt to stabilise the power supply. One of them was electrocuted and another dropped in water. What we are trying to do is to link up with the university and take power from Ganmo. Imagine the huge cost.”
Ace comedian, Bovi Ugboma, certainly gave his scammer the most epic reply ever… or didn’t he? Lol.
Nice one!
Mother of one/beautiful Nollywood actress, Nuella Njubigbo Chikere is a year older today and to celebrate, she shared these gorgeous photos of herself.
See em below:
An amazing Chinese man born with no arms has found a way to beat his disability – by using his TOES to set up a successful online business.
Chen Zifang’s parents thought their 27-year-old son might be resigned to a life of hardship after he was born without arms.
But despite his severe disabilities, inspiring Chen, Badong county, Hubei province, central China, has managed to lead a fulfilling life – thanks to his talent for carrying out everyday tasks with his feet..
He can feed, wash, text and even fully dress himself without the help of a carer.
Domestic chores are no problem either as he can help out around the house by cutting up vegetables and sawing timber.
Business is also booming for Chen, who made 10,000 Yuan (£1,000) in ten days from his e-commerce website – more than double the monthly average income in his area.
Culled from Daily Mail.
Following reports that her ex, Scott Disick has moved on to a 20 year old model… Reality TV star, Kourtney Kardashian, 36 seemed not to be moved by this as she was spotted on a date with Pdiddy‘s eldest son, 24 year old, Quincy Brown.
This is the second time they have been spotted on a late night date this year..
The mother of three at first had a fling with Justin Bieber and rumours are bound to start swirling over her friendship with Quincy…
More photos:
What I am about to share may sound like a badly scripted Nollywood movie but it happened to me.
My name is Sandra and I am a 34-year-old woman who has been hurt greatly by the man I thought was in love with me and wanted to spend my life with. I work with a large oil company and I must say that God has been faithful to me in that I have been able to achieve most of the things women my age have not.
By the grace of God, apart from my job, I have a thriving business, two houses, one in my home town and another in Lagos. But the only thing that has been lacking in my life is a man to call my own. I don’t know whether most men are afraid of my intimidating success or many of them are just after my money and body.
To say I have suffered in the hands of men is putting it mildly, so when I met Francis and he proved in so many ways to be reliable and not after my money, I felt very comfortable with him and when he proposed to me, I was over the moon with joy.
I introduced him to my family and even set him up in a business. Coming from a not so buoyant family, most of their problems fell on my head and as a potential daughter-in-law, I did everything I could to make sure they did not lack anything.
I catered for their well being, including paying the school fees of his siblings, gave his parents a monthly allowance and helped many of his relations whenever they needed help.
But in all of these, the only way Francis could pay me back was to run away with Ijeoma, my best friend as well as my money, a whopping N38 million. It had gotten to the point where he had access to my account and could withdraw money from it. I did all that because of the love and trust I have for him.
On Ijeoma’s part, we have been childhood friends and more like sisters. I was also her benefactor as she did not have any tangible source of income.
There was nothing about me that she did not know but I never knew she was actually sharing my man with me. I knew she did not have any serious relationship, so I was surprised when she told me she was pregnant and as much as I prodded her to tell me the man responsible, she would not tell me.
But the whole truth came out when I travelled out of the country only to come back to meet the shocker of my life. Francis had left a note for me that Ijeoma was pregnant for him and that they had travelled out of Nigeria where they would settle down. In the note, he told me not to bother looking for him as he was done with an old hag like me. He included that he had ‘borrowed’ my money.
When I called my account manager, he confirmed that the amount was withdrawn and I had signed the cheque. It dawned on me that Francis had made me sign some of my cheque leaflets some months earlier and he must have used that to steal my money.
I have been devastated and for now, I have resolved never to ever have anything to do with a man for the rest of my life. But I sworn to so deal with the cheating pair, no matter how long or what it takes, even going diabolical, though my pastor, parents and friends say I should leave vengeance to God.
– Sandra.”
What do you think Sandra should do in this case? Should she take vengeance on Francis and Ijeoma or leave everything to God?
Binta, Wizkid’s second baby-mama, has been doing a lot of talking about motherhood since she became a mother.
It can be recalled that she recently welcomed a son with Nigerian superstar, Wizkid and even named their son, Ayo Jnr.
She took to her Instagram to share a photo which revealed that being a mother is the world’s highest paying job as the payment for that is pure love, which she thinks is priceless.
Just yesterday, we brought y’all reports of stunning Nollywood actress/business woman, Mercy Aigbe’s advertisement for a PA and how her post got mixed reactions cause a lot felt the requirements were not commensurate with the pay and all (In case you missed it).
Well, the actress just revealed she got over 1000 applications in one day. Sharing the lovely photo, she wrote:
“Goodmorning Fam, Application is closed cos we got over 1,000 applications just yesterday, way above our limit …..cos it’s just 1 person we are looking for, to all dose who sent their applications thank u and shortlisted candidates will be contacted soon …..Y’all have a fruitful day and may the Lord keep blessing the works of our hands IJN ….. P.s for those sending their applications to my email pls it’s supposed to be done on line, but unfortunately it’s now closed….thanks .”
Some inner talents most of these celebrities possess though… who knew that they can do more than just acting, or singing or whatever it is they do to make em famous…
Would you have known that Miley Cyrus is as flexible as you can see in these photos. The controversial singer showed off her impressive flexibility as she practised Yoga on Thursday.
See more photos below:
Olajumoke Orisaguna, the 27 year old bread hawker turned model is yet to move into her three bedroom apartment.
“Olajumoke’s house will soon be ready. The renovation is almost complete. They are already at the final stage. The Orisagunas should be ready to move in anytime from now.
“They just want a decent and presentable place for them, that is why it is taking this long.” a source told Encomium
The building is supposed to house the 27 year old mother of two with her children (Grace, five, Precious, 16 months) and Sunday Orisaguna, her aluminum windows and doors installer husband.
The apartment under renovation was given to the Orisagunas courtesy of Sijimoto Construction boss, Sijibomi Ogundele. The apartment comes fully furnished with five year rent paid by the young philanthropist.
According to TY Bello who discovered Olajumoke, she was a hairstylist from Iree, Osun state, but wasn’t making enough money along with her husband, Sunday, who is a sliding door installer to take care of their two children.
A distant relative, who knew someone operating a bakery invited her to Lagos to hawk bread. Olajumoke relocated to Lagos to give bread hawking a try.
She left behind her husband and five year old first child. She lived in the bakery with other in-house workers and bread sellers and made a profit of between N300 and N700 daily.
Jumoke’s story has inspired a lot of people and many have been tapping into her kind of miracle, as it is a typical rags to riches tale that sounds like a lie.
She has been offered internship at Make Me Salon and Sari Signatures a popular Lebanese owned salon in Victoria Island, Lagos.
A 78-year-old nun is said to have been caught shoplifting $23 worth of coffee, snacks and toiletries from a central Pennsylvania store.
Police say Sister Agnes Pennino was seen taking the items from the Surplus Outlet near Berwick on Monday afternoon. WNEP-TV reports police determined the woman captured on surveillance video was the nun who lived about 20 miles away at St.Cyril’s convent in Danville.
Manger Zane Kishbach said a customer alerted him that someone might be stealing from the store.
‘Another customer came to me in aisle 5 and said, ‘I’m not sure what I’m seeing, but I think a woman is stealing,’ and she had already left the store by that time and I went out to pursue her,’ Kishbach said.
An employee of Surplus Outlet was able to copy the license plate number from her car.
Kishbach says that the stealing was ‘planned‘ and claims that Pennino brought her own red shopping bags that resemble the store’s bags to put the stolen items in.He added that she exited through the front door so as not to be seen by cashiers.
Shoplifting is a summary offense, akin to a traffic ticket, meaning the nun will likely pay a fine if she’s convicted.
Store manager Zane Kishbach says he ‘couldn’t believe it that a nun would actually do something like that.’
Nollywood filmmaker Tchidi Chikere in a birthday shout out described his wife, Nuella Njubigbo Chikere, as a perfect woman.
Nuella and Tchidi got married back in 2013 and have a daughter together. Read the message below:
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY BOOBABY. If I was perfect I d say I deserve you. I m that imperfect man with a perfect wifey..and you just make me better…you ve been a mother to me, to the boys, to Adachi, and to everybody in the house. HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my phenomenal woman. As you add another year to your life,I wish that everyday of the rest of your life is beautiful just as you are. Love you to bits.
Cameroon has allegedly sentenced 89 members of Nigerian Islamist militant group Boko Haram to death, local media report claims.
They were convicted on terror charges by a military court for their roles in several attacks .Cameroon passed an anti-terror law in 2014 which introduced the death sentence.
This is the first time the death sentenced has been used since that law was passed. The 89 are among 850 people arrested in Cameroon on charges of links to Boko Haram.
Following the death sentences, a local human rights group has called for reforms to Cameroon’s justice system.
Queen of Hip-Hop, Nicki Minaj, had a performance last night in Johannesburg.
She shared these absolutely kinky photos from her stay in Africa.
See more below:
Eight-year-old pupil of Prospect Primary School, Akute, Ogun State, Oyindamola Onimole, has been detained by the Ajuwon Police Division.
Punch newspaper reports that Oyindamola, who was held by the police between 6pm on Wednesday and 12pm on Thursday, was arrested by a policeman from the station for reporting a teacher in the school, identified simply as Mrs. Oni, to his mother.
PUNCH Metro learnt that Oni, who is the wife of one of the policemen at the station, had maltreated Oyindamola at school and the pupil reported her to his mother, Mrs. Nimota Onimole, who subsequently stormed the school and complained about the assault.
After the mother left, the teacher was said to have descended on the child again for daring to report her to his mother.
A source in the school said, “After school hours, the teacher called her husband and he stormed the house of the pupil and arrested the minor.
“When Mrs. Onimole (Nimota) returned from work about 10pm, neighbours told her about the ordeal of her son. She left for the police station to ascertain what had happened. The mother, who went to the police station to bail her child, was also detained.”
Oyindamola’s father, Olalekan Omole, confirmed on Thursday that his wife and son were detained by the police.
He said, “At about 6.30pm, the teacher and her policeman husband, went to our house and forcibly took my son. They used okada (motorcycle) to pick my son.
“When my wife returned about 10pm and got to the station around 10.30pm, requesting to get her child released, she was equally detained at the station. All this happened because of the influence of the teacher, whose husband happened to be a policeman at the station.
“My two remaining children slept alone at home that night. I had to consult a lot of people to wade in and get justice for my family.
“But today (Thursday), at about 12pm, my son and my wife were released by the police.”
Olalekan, who expressed outrage at the detention of the minor, said he would contact his lawyer to take the matter up.
Oyindamola’s father added that he had informed the school proprietor about Mrs. Oni’s alleged misconduct.
This article you are about to read was originally published on Charles Novia’s website.
Nollywood has been in a state of understandable inertia since the news came out of the blues that Ibinabo Fiberesima lost her case at the Appeal Court in Lagos and was sent straight to Prison on Friday the 11th of March 2016.
A lot of people thought that the case was done with long ago and we were surprised that it had cropped up again with the implications of a five year jail term for Ibinabo.
And the reactions thus far have not been in anyway hostile to the Court’s judgement. Not at all. The industry is enlightened enough to bow to the ruling of the law and respect it as it behoves on everyone. The collective shock expressed is because Ibinabo is a beautiful soul. She’s one of us. And one for all and all for one.
With opinions divided in the public sphere over the judgement, it has been saddening to read uninformed comments by lots of people about the case and some vitriol on the person of Ibinabo by many who don’t even know her.
Of course, everyone would have an opinion and that cannot be taken from anyone. But such terms which ring of untruths that ‘she was drunk that night and coming from a night club’ or ‘she killed someone’ are absolutely untrue.
It’s quite sad that we have no investigative journalists anymore or that truth these days battle with coloured lies and no one does anything about it.
In the past few days, Nollywood and Entertainment chat groups on whatsapp ( and there are many but credible ones I belong to) have been brainstorming on what next to do in this case. The law is the law and of course it is a possibility that Ibinabo would be behind bars for some time while everyone make efforts to take the next legal options to help her.
But the entertainment industry has never been this united in showing sympathy and solidarity for one of us. unprecedented. And so with chat groups proferring ideas on what to do next ( with high profile celebrity visits already carried out to Kirikiri to reassure Ibinabo by over fifty celebrities on Sunday the 13th of March) someone sent a munched shot of the instagram page of the daughter of the late Doctor Giwa who was reacting to Ibinabo’s son’s public plea for prayers for his mother.
The munched shot showed that the daughter was understandably bitter and pained by her father’s death but to many who read it in the chat group, it betrayed a lack of the real facts and had a one – sided narrative which accused Ibinabo of ‘being drunk from a night club outing’ and ‘running away from the scene of the accident’ after it happened.
I also read the open letter of the sister of late Doctor who understandably gave an emotionally – charged one-sided narrative of what she believes happened and ended her letter by applauding the Justice system for vindicating her understandable anger towards Ibinabo for the past eleven years.
There’s a saying in Pidgin English which says ‘na talk dey bring talk’ and what happened thereafter this week is the stuff movies are made of. No pun intended. It was totally unexpected.
One of the most important personalities in Nollywood in the chat group, obviously distressed at the wrong notion about Ibinabo by the deceased daughter blurted out that ‘you know, Guys? There are facts of the case which I know and which haven’t come to light all these years. My brother was an eye witness and saw all what happened that night’
The reaction was one of stunned questions. And immediately, I made the decision to interview the eye witness to find out what he really saw and what it was that happened which the public may not have heard these years.
I decided to do this as a public service responsibility first and also to put whatever the new facts are in the public domain for posterity to prove or dispel. And if these new revelations would help heal wounds and bring about a new dawn of forgiveness and understanding, then so be it.
I got the number of the eye witness from his sister in the chat room and called him. Now, let me state here that this is no fiction.
This fellow is real and is willing to expose himself to the public anytime to state what he saw. I have decided not to put his surname out ( even though he says he doesn’t mind) at this point in time but that doesn’t detract from the real facts of this story.
‘Good afternoon, Mr De Gaulle. Your sister gave me your number to call you to find out what happened that night. My name is Charles Novia’ I said, when he answered, my pen and recorder ready.
‘Oh ok. Yes, she told me you would call. My name is De Gaulle ( surname protected by me) You see, I’m ready to come out to testify or say whatever happened that night of the accident because it happened in my presence. I witnessed it and saw everything. We were many who saw what happened that evening and I assumed that others might have told the world what really went down but I’m surprised to read so many untrue things about what happened at the scene of the accident that evening’ He said.
‘Please go ahead, Sir. I’m taking notes and recording’ I said
‘ Ok. I saw Ibinabo a few years ago ( about six years ago) in Port Harcourt at a restaurant called Gessy ( or Jessy?). She was with some of your colleagues and my sister was there too. I told my sister that ‘Hey! That’s that girl whom I helped at the scene of the accident years ago’.
My sister was surprised and called Ibinabo to meet me. And when I told her what I’m about to tell you, she was surprised and quiet for a long time.
That evening, what happened was that the Doctor’s car was coming from the Victoria Island axis of the first Lekki Roundabout which leads into the Lekki Phase One Estate, while another SUV which was being driven by Ibinabo was coming out from the estate, if I remember correctly. I cannot tell who was speeding or what but we heard a loud crash and then I think the doctors car somersaulted while the other car driven by Ibinabo was flung a few metres to the other side.
‘Was it midnight or late at night?’ I asked
‘No!’ Mr De Gaulle replied with much emphasis. ‘ It was early evening. There was still the last trace of evening light. It might have been just before seven o’clock or after seven. But it wasn’t late.
So what happened was that the Doctor’s car was upside down and somehow his hand was crushed and he was trapped in the car.
Immediately a few Area Boys and bystanders rushed to him to try and help him out of the crushed car. I quickly parked my car and came out to help as I rushed to the doctors car. A few other cars stopped as well.
I noticed that the other car was motionless and no one really was paying much attention to that car. What got my attention was the special number plates on the car which read ‘ DANIEL WILSON’ a popular musician in the nineties in Nigeria.
When I got to the doctor’s car, the area boys and bystanders were gathered round the car and were trying to help the man out of the car in the upturned vehicle. At that point, the man was very much alive. I swear he was alive and groaning but he was alive. His arm was crushed or underpinned by the impact of the car and I still think that it was the inexperience of the area boys and bystanders in trying to pull the man out of the car, which killed him faster.
I am sorry to say that but that is my belief because of what I saw. The people who gathered round that car may have meant well but they were also callous in responding to the emergency and were dragging at the man, trying to pull him from the crushed car.
The doctor kept crying out ( and I heard everything clearly because I saw it and was even telling the crowd to be gentle) and was shouting ‘ No! Take it easy! I’m a doctor. Don’t pull me like that. Easy!’. I heard everything.
At this time, all attention was on the doctor. And I heard someone in the crowd say that if anything happened to the man, they would make sure the occupant in the other car suffers.
Immediately I heard that, I went to the other car because I thought it was Daniel Wilson involved from the number plates. I was surprised to see a fair-skinned lady behind the wheel, unconscious and still. There was another lady in the car with her in the front seat. I think it was a young lady of about sixteen years or a teenager. That young lady was weeping and shaking.
After hearing what the guys at the other side had said about the occupant of the car, my first instinct was to get them to safety or to the hospital. I asked the young lady ‘ is there anyone you can call to take you people to the hospital? You and this woman have to leave this place now and get to a hospital’
I helped stop a taxi and helped carry the unconscious Ibinabo to the car and the taxi took them away.
Then I now returned to the other car of the late Doctor. When I got there, another set of cars full of some doctors had arrived the scene. The doctors said they were coming from some kind of meeting or event near the beach or somewhere near if I remember and that the bleeding occupant of the car was their colleague whom they had seen earlier.
By the time I got back, the car had been turned to a standing position but I believe it was too late for the injured person in that car at that point.’
‘So you say the doctor in the car was alive when the accident happened?’ I asked.
‘He was. There was no immediate emergency care to help him from competent medical personnel as what would obtain today and the crowd tried to help him out and he was calling out in pain. It was sad and painful. So when I saw Ibinabo a couple of years later in Port-Harcourt and told her that I was the person who removed her from the car and put her in a taxi, she was speechless and quaky. She too could have died that evening. She didn’t run away from the scene of the accident at all. I was the person who put her in a taxi to a hospital ‘
‘Why did it take you such a long time to come out to tell this story?’ I asked
‘I have been in and out of Nigeria these past ten years. And I actually thought too that the case was done with all this while. I was surprised to hear that she was just sent to jail. Look, it was an unfortunate thing which happened. And I am ready at anytime, ANYTIME if I am called upon to testify on what I saw. It happened before my eyes. If my testimony would help put facts straight, I am ready’
I got in touch with Daniel Wison who corroborated that Ibinabo drove his SUV that night in question. ‘She’s my sister. We are from the same state and local government. It was the week of my mother’s burial and Ibinabo had come from Port-Harcourt to help me with the burial. She was wonderful and really supportive.
That day, she needed the car to get to somewhere on the island and I asked her to pick any from the pool of cars in my compound. I was surprised when I got a call a couple of hours later that there was an accident. I rushed to the hospital, St Nicholas, and she was unconscious. But when she came out of it, she was delirious and traumatised.
She was shaky. Look Charles, Ibinabo is a gentle soul. It was unfortunate that the accident happen but it was not intentional in anyway. And we have been begging the family of the late doctor. Who said we haven’t begged? I personally, made numerous visits to the house to see the widow and elders of the family. We attended the burial of the doctor. I was there. We begged and begged.
Not because we think begging could bring the man back but just because it’s human nature to forgive. So, it’s not true that we remained aloof’ Daniel concluded.
It’s been much of a nagging battle for me to decide if I should put out this story or not. The initial hesitation was borne out of the fact that many people would misconstrue the new testimony as somewhat of a convenient revelation just to help a colleague, seeing that we are in the same industry.
But at the end of my internal consideration, a part of me decided to put it out anyway. First, to record a new chronicle of the whole sad accident which millions, including me, never knew happened.
It’s better to be on the side of history which stands for true reportage of events in this case. And since Mr De Gaulle is very willing to give his account to any reporter or law enforcement agent for some measure of revision, I am prepared too to give out his number to members of the fourth estate of the realm and even the late doctor’s family to find out more from the fellow himself.
Finally, I have always maintained that we all are bound by the laws of our society. Ibinabo is serving a sentence passed by a law court and we respect that. We sympathise with her and as an industry would share the comfort between her and the family of the late Doctor.
But the final closure of this matter, beyond the law and prison sentence she would serve, rests on the family of the late Dr Giwa really.
Now that there is a final vindication, as gleamed from the letter by the late doctor’s sister, what happens after Ibinabo serves her sentence? Would the family carry the hurt till the end of time?
A platform for reconciliation and forgiveness has to be set in motion. This is not just about the law now but about healing. Healing. Healing for all parties.
Body experts will better explain actress, Toyin Aimakhu’s road to size 6 which she has been currently working on just to look slimmer.
Not many of her fans are cool with this her new body size as many have urged her to stop as not all part of her body will reduce at the same time.
The actress explained that she needs the slim body to be able to fit into the TV series which will be coming up soon, ‘Alakada.’
Toyin is already looking slim with thin legs and hands already and some fans are wondering the amount of slim she wants again.
By Samira Bello
Do I have to introduce Olajumoke Orisaguna to anyone?
Should I even have to?
After all, she’s been on CNN, The Huffington Post, BBC and Buzzfeed. The proverbial story of the bread seller whose time it is to ‘shine’ and what not. It was fun at first, then it started to get somewhat ridiculous and now, its an outright farce.
Weeks ago, The Lagos Polo club had it’s annual event and part of this year’s line up, a fashion show was organized with several emerging and high profile designers showing clothes from their latest collections and there, this happened.
At the open call casting for the 2015 Lagos Fashion and Design Week, nearly 500 hundred models, a vast majority of whom had been in the industry for at least two years showed up to audition for one of the 75 slots open to models. Less than 20 percent got a slot. That is just a base idea of how competitive runway modelling is.
Of all the kinds of modeling there is out there ( and there are many), runway modeling is the most competitive, second only to advertising editorials in prestige and pay out. But to succeed as a runway model, you must either be well above average height or have a distinctive walk, the latter traditional models train for years to finesse and perfect.
With the right kind of training, Olajumoke Orisaguna can grow to become a decent runway model, but she will always be at a disadvantage to other models. In that way, modelling is like basketball, genetics are just as important as talent.
Right now, she isn’t even a passable runway model but the narrative that she is is being forced on us. Motivations aside, putting Orisaguna on a runway before she is trained enough to compete favourably for jobs with her peers is doing her- and us- a disservice.
Orisaguna is a beautiful woman, but she doesn’t have that thing that sets models apart from other beautiful women. There is no ‘edge’ to her, and she isn’t aware of her body the way a model is.
In her editorial with Layo G, (a heavily photoshopped project,) one could see how easily overwhelmed the former bread seller was when she is shot by someone who isn’t used to shooting amateurs.
She is rigid, and glares at the camera in an awkward pose, strange for an editorial supposedly aimed towards working class women wanting to exude ease and confidence.
In this cut-throat industry of ours, once the media circus around Orisaguna and her good fortune dies out (perhaps, the beginning of which started when the Ese Oruru story broke) she will barely be visible among the swarm of 5’11 models she is supposed to compete for jobs with, let alone become a coveted face.
Many might argue that her popularity is supposedly getting her jobs, but in high fashion popularity is detrimental to a model. A model is supposed to be secondary to the clothes he/she is selling at all times, and in the absence of training or experience or a face that is marketable to the discerning fashion crowd, what else does she have to hold on to other than her popularity?
It took Moyinoluwa Arowoshola, winner of the 2012 Elite Model Look four years to land an international modelling contract, and Ninioma Anosike two years to open her first runway season at NYFW and both women are stunning and mavens at modelling with walks that will always leave an audience spell bound. So what are the odds for dear Olajumoke as a high fashion model?
There are other kinds of modelling; print and catalog, brand endorsements (like her endorsements with Payporte and Shirley’s confectionery) and even fashion adjacent jobs like hair styling (which she already has some experience in). She can still thrive in the fashion industry without being a high fashion model.
I have seen many suggest that she takes as many endorsements and jobs as she can and stock pile what ever money she can lay her hands on before her ‘grace’ expires. When the realities of her odds are discussed, the concerned folks are dismissed as ‘haters.’
This mentality of opportunism is why the fashion and modelling industries are mere scaffolds hiding a rotten, ineffectual system.
Until this changes, all we will do is perpetuate a system that finds and milks (not so) talent only to discard them when they run out of potential opportunities for exploitation.
By Samira Bello
The Ooni of Ife, Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi & his Olori, Wuraola Zynab Otiti stepped out yesterday for the very first time since their Wedding & Thanksgiving ceremony.
The Royal Couple attended the first matriculation ceremony of the Kings University, Ode-Omu, Osun state.
Photos Below:
Days ago, R&B singer Ne-Yo and his wife Crystal Renay welcomed their first child together, a boy they have named after his father, Shaffer Chikere Smith Jr. and now, for the first time, the couple have let the world see their son
And he’s so beautiful!
“Allow me to introduce to you all Shaffer Chikere Smith Jr.!” The proud mum wrote on Instagram, adding, “I’m so in love with this lil man. Now I know what it means to have your heart walk around outside your body. Thank you Ne-Yo for the greatest gift in the world. Love you to the moon and back.”
Meet Junior:
Nollywood actress Ibinabo Fiberesima has been sent back to prison.
Yesterday, the Court of Appeal denied the embattled star’s bail application on grounds of incompetency.
According to Vanguard, the three man-panel, who attended to her application, stated that the actress failed to attach copies of the judgment that was delivered by the court which affirmed the five years jail sentence imposed on her.
Ibinabo’s bail application was deemed incompetent by the Court as a result of failure to attach copies of her 5-year jail term as exhibit.
The Court of Appeal refused to budge even after a certain Victor Eden presented a six-paragraph affidavit of urgency stating that Fiberesima was currently recovering from a breast tumor-removal surgery and requires medical attention.
Meanwhile, Nollywood actors in the north took to the streets yesterday to hold #pardonIbinaboFiberesima walk in Abuja.
