Obafemi Martins joins Chinese side, Shanghai Shenhua
Nigeria forward, Obafemi Martins has completed a move from Seattles Sounders in New York to Chinese club Shanghai Shenhua in a multi-million dollar deal.
The 31-year-old ex Inter Milan player who has scored 43 goals in 84 appearances for the MLS club since March 2013 joins the likes of ex Chelsea players, Demba Ba, Ramires in the league.
Buhari condoles with the family of the woman who donated her life savings to his campaign
President Muhammadu Buhari has paid tribute to Hajia Fadimatu Mai Talle Tara, the 90 year old woman who donated her N1 million savings to the Buhari presidential campaign organization and died yesterday morning. She is survived by 15 children and 15 grandchildren.
Below is a press statement from the Presidency.
President Muhammadu Buhari has extolled the virtues of Hajiya Fati Koko, popularly called Maitalla Tara, who has passed away, aged 95. Mourning Hajiya Koko, who had waited nine hours in Kebbi early last year, to donate the sum of N1 million (One million Naira) to him as the then presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), President Buhari described her as “a woman with a good heart, who stood by her convictions, and gave sacrificially.”
Hajiya Koko had offered virtually her life’s savings to candidate Buhari then, saying she admired his honesty, discipline, and stand for truth. Receiving the news of her passage, President Buhari commended Hayiya Koko’s conviction and sacrificial giving, urging Nigerians to learn vital lessons from her life. “She gave practically all she had towards our campaign. Though well advanced in age, she still believed a new Nigeria was possible, and followed her conviction with action. What generosity of spirit and what tenacious faith in her motherland.
Nigerians, old and young, have a lot to learn from her,” the President said. President Buhari condoled with the family and relations of the departed, urging them to take solace in the fact that their matriarch lived to a ripe old age, “and she saw the beginning of the change she had long yearned for. The onus is now on all of us to ensure that the change gets entrenched and solidified for even generations yet unborn to benefit from.” The President also sympathized with the governor and people of Kebbi State, whom he said will all miss the sterling qualities of Hajiya Koko, but added that the life of the departed will serve as a standard to emulate “in the service of God, humanity and country.” “May Allah grant her soul repose in Al-jannah,” the President prayed.
Femi Adesina Special Adviser to the President (Media & Publicity)
Actress, Eniola Badmus shares lovely Valentine-inspired photos.
Single and boo less? Who says you have to miss out on the gift-giving and indulgence the Valentines Day offers? Ask actress Eniola Badmus, she knows the drill.
The plus-sized thespian who apparently is not in a relationship gave herself a wonderful treat today.
“If you don’t have a boo, I guess you have to love yourself, hehe!”She wrote on Instagram.
Jumoke: The Bread Sellers Code | By: Joseph Edgar
Let me reveal a small secret. I have sold bread before. I sold on the streets of Shomolu for about two years and in all my waka, I never met T.Y. Bello talk less of getting a modelling contract and being shown all over the world.
I am very envious and remain angry at this twist of fate. We were the early bread sellers and yes, I also slept in the bakery so that I could be the first to jump into the smoking hot oven to collect the freshest breads for my eventual hawking.
Fate never took my weary legs to where I would find solace like it has done for this young lady. As I look into her eyes I still see the fear that one evil eunuch could rudely wake her up from her sleep and forcefully throw her back into the doldrums that was her life until that fateful evening.
Fate is wicked. It left me alone on the streets of Shomolu while it suddenly woke up to the reality of its responsibilities by tapping this lonely Yoruba girl and thrusting her into the klieg lights of fortune. She is today celebrated even by those who had bought her bread and refused to pay. She is today with no effort other than walk past that particular street at that particular time changed her fortune, given her children an opportunity to be counted and also given the rest of us hope that our bread selling days were not in vain.
This usually doesn’t happen in Nigeria. This is the fabled American Dream, where hope is suddenly ignited in a seemingly hopeless situation . I read her story, making just N700 daily from trudging along sun patched footpaths of the poor. Sleeping on bare dirt floors of the bakery and yet not even for once thinking of leaving her poor but obviously very loving husband.
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Yes, the husband. I saw his pictures cradling his child still stunned at what had happened. What kind of a man is he? Is he truly a lazy man or just one of us who despite all our hard work still find poverty a reluctant partner. Our society is crazy, people hiding billions in soak away pits while the rest of us send our wives to the bakery floor to eke a living for the family. He must be very gentle, the type that would have given his all for his family hence the continued support of his newly minted kardashian of a bread seller wife. If he wasn’t loving, she would have rebelled now with her new friends and fancy clothes.
I know this is temporary. The users will milk all the media mileage that they can from this and dump her when they are tired. Today she is everybody’s friend and you will start hearing stories of how they started the bread selling business together. Infact, I have just heard of how she was pointed out to T.Y. Bello who took the iconic shot. My prayer is for her to achieve some sustainable benefits that would at least give her two kids a better chance just before the hyenas finish with her and face the next victim.
As for me, I stand beside a bakery at Sabo waiting to collect my own bread for onward hawking. I hope T.Y hasn’t gone to bed for she must discover me. If she has, I will wait by her gate and scream as loud as I can, ‘buy your Bread’ for it can never be too late. I sold bread before.
*********************************************************************************Joseph Edgar is an investment banker who writes as a hobby. He comments on trending issues in Nigeria and around the globe from a satirical point of view. He blogs at josephedgarng.blogspot.com
*********************************************************************************Joseph Edgar is an investment banker who writes as a hobby. He comments on trending issues in Nigeria and around the globe from a satirical point of view. He blogs at josephedgarng.blogspot.com
Leicester City may be the final straw for Arsene Wenger
Later today, Arsenal will take on Leicester City at the Emirates stadium in a game that would have a huge bearing on who will eventually win the League. Whilst it cannot be tagged the decider considering the number of games left to be played, the outcome of the game will give a clearer indication on where the title might end up at the end of the season.
Of the two sides, Arsenal is the team that would be desperate to avoid a defeat. A victory for Leicester City will see them open an eight-points gap between themselves and the North London club, thereby, potentially ending their title dream – again.
The word ‘again’ is used because it would be yet another season of disappointment and ‘what ifs’ for the fans of Arsenal. For many years now, they have endured similar heartbreaks but this year would definitely be bigger and much more painful for obvious reasons.
In a season that Chelsea is fighting for survival, Manchester United continues to increase their efforts towards not playing in Europe and Nigeria’s PHCN have been more consistent than Manchester City, Arsenal should be running away with the League. They (Arsenal) not only have the most experienced manager in the League but also, players who can make things happen.
The excruciating pain for not winning it will be compounded by the fact that Arsenal might NEVER have such an opportunity again. Next season will see Pep Guardiola, a proven winner, move to Manchester City, Jose Mourinho might join Manchester United, Chelsea will definitely bounce back stronger and Jurgen Klopp will have gathered enough experience to give others a fierce contest.
A defeat at the Emirates will definitely be fatal for Arsenal but even more fatal for the manager of the club, Arsene Wenger. As a matter of fact, it could be the final straw for the manager who has gone from being adored to being endured by a good number of fans over his philosophy and approach to managing for a decade.
Without a doubt, Arsene Wenger remains the club’s greatest manager given his remarkable achievements but since he last won the League in 2004, he has offered nothing but excuses.
To be fair on him, his excuses are valid. The club went through a financial transformation and that restricted his chance to compete at the very top as he had little money to spend on players unlike his opponents. But despite all of that, he managed to keep the side competitive with an admirable youth policy.
His problem, however, is that a lot of managers are beginning to make light his excuses with their achievements. The obvious example will, of course, have to be the manager he would be facing later today, Claudio Ranieri. He is on the verge of winning the English Premier League with a squad that is cheaper than Arsenal’s Mesut Ozil.
More so, what Jurgen Klopp did with Borrusia Dortmund is another great example. He not only broke the monopoly of Bayern Munich by winning the Bundesliga consecutively, he also took them to the final of the biggest competition in Europe, the UEFA Champions League. Under his watch, Borrusia Dortmund went from another club in Germany to a respected force in mainstream Europe without him necessarily throwing money about.
In the same vein Atletico Madrid is witnessing that under Diego Simeone. Two years ago, he won the La Liga right under the nose of European giants – Real Madrid and Barcelona. More so, he could have won the Champions League but for Sergio Ramos’ late header.
All of these are clear indications of two things. First off, the emphasis on spending is overrated. Financial worth is not the measure of quality (Please, recall that Mangala cost Manchester City a staggering £42Million) and with the right motivation, there is no limit to what a team can achieve.
Secondly, it indicates that regardless of how valid Wenger’s excuses may seem over the years, they still remain what they are – excuses. And if today, Leicester City manage to grind out a win and consequentially dent Arsenal’s title charge, those excuses will no longer be tolerated.
The Wenger Out Brigade recruit more members faster than how Eriteria gained new male entrants when the false news of Government compulsion to marry two wives made the rounds and they have shown flashes of what they are capable of doing. A defeat to Leicester will not only exponentially increase the members of the Brigade, it might also be the beginning of a revolt that would be hard to ignore.
Arsene Wenger will have no hiding place and it just might be the beginning of his end at Arsenal.
Adeshina Peter, @Shina_Pitta on Twitter.
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Olajumoke's Unleavened Bread And The Oven Of Opportunist | By: Charles Novia
I have written glowingly about the Olajumoke duckling-to-swan story a few days back on my facebook page and praised those whose hands were compelled by the benevolence of fate to change her life.
However, I’m a bit uncomfortable with the overexposure of the young lady to the media. That’s just me but from experience it may have unpleasant consequences if it it not well-managed.
I agree that she should enjoy her newfound fame within the ambits of the international attention she’s receiving presently but I can’t help thinking too that she’s walking into a treacherous terrain with much of that overexposure.
Questions to be asked are: who is her manager? Does she have one and is she being psychologically preened for the after effects of this exposure? What’s her state of mind in the midst of this euphoria? Given that she has been ducked into a somewhat positive maelstrom of media machineries, is she being prepared for when a time would come when she might not be the flavour of the moment?
Because I think she’s trending right now as a distraction to the realities we face in the socio-economic sector. Nigerians need something positive for once to make them forget the harsh realities of the drudgery of our individual existentialism in the present scheme of things. And Olajumoke is the perfect and beautiful distraction.
But we are going to be bored very soon. And when that happens, who will cushion her expectations when things slow down? A modeling agency is just an agency and not a management agency. Who would manage her realities?
Yes, we have all bought her bread ( pun not intended) and eaten slices off her loaf of inspiration. But wherein she was a slice of life a few days ago as a nondescript trudger of the survival path, we all are now partakers in the breaking of her whole loaf.
Olajumoke has to be careful. She has a family. She has a husband. From empirical antecedents, the marriage is usually the first casualty of this kind of invasion of privacy. It happens all the time.
If the young lady loved her husband as a bread seller, she should be encouraged to strengthen that love now that she’s literally a bread bringer to the home. Because she would soon start mixing with the hawkish lot who would soon start whispering serpentine advice into her ears. It happens all the time. Beyond the media glare would be a fundamental introspection of her future with the spouse.
And that’s where the crunch lies.
The media is all pleasant and powerful when it comes to pushing the Olajumokes of this world to new heights. But the media gives with one hand and takes with the other.
My suggestivism does not in any pre-suppose an impending doom but alerts on an intending loom.
The life of the Bread Seller is presently brought to us closer through a whimsical telescope. It won’t be long before the want of more sensationalism would put her life under a selfish microscope.
Stories would soon be cooked up or exaggerated about her, just to suit the media.
It happens all the time.
That’s why she must be the person at this point in her life to take charge of her narrative. She must hold on the yeast of her future while we munch on the dough.
Her life was unleavened just a few weeks ago.
Credit: CharlesNoviadaily.com
Nigeria's Alex Iwobi promoted to Arsenal's first team.
Nigeria’s Alex Iwobi has been promoted to Arsenal’s first team. The announcement was made by coach, Arsene Wenger ahead of ahead of the Gunners’ Premier League clash with Leicester City tomorrow.
The 19 year-old who extended his contract last October will no longer feature for Arsenal’s Under-21 team and won’t be loaded out before the end of this season. His contract at the Emirates will end in 4 years time.
Dear Pastor Biodun Fatoyinbo of COZA | By : Etcetera
I am writing you today because I am a Christian myself. I am not writing this article to attack you; on the contrary, I am writing it to wake you up from sleeping in these dark hours. Jesus asked His disciples to pray, but they went to sleep instead. Believers have gone to sleep spiritually worldwide, especially in Nigeria.
I want you to be awake to righteousness – (1st Corinthians 15:34 says, “Awake to righteousness, and sin not; for some have not the knowledge of God: I speak this to your shame”). I want to help you in the spirit of meekness – Galatians 6:1.
I saw a lot of tweets and Facebook posts by Nigerians expressing their disgust about the all white yacht party you did in Dubai. What is most worrisome is that the (touch not my anointed) believers won’t tell you that you are glamorizing the ministry by putting your lavish lifestyles on display and deceiving lazy Christians that the party in Dubai is what God wants, what God can do, and what God has provided.
You may ask why Nigerians are so angry. – Everybody wants nice things, right? And what better way to get them if God does it for you? Pastor Fatoyinbo, it is true that there is nothing wrong with having nice things. Everyone loves to have more and live a richer life but is that the only reason why we (should) go to church? We should also go to church because we love God, desire to worship God, draw closer to God and are in fellowship with other believers.
Your followers have defended you as expected – that most people who are frustrated by your unnecessary display of wealth are those who are struggling to get by day to day, trying to make ends meet, save enough to meet their needs and that of their families. Therefore, they are the ones finding it hard to digest your lavish lifestyle.
How do we digest your lavish lifestyle ehn, knowing that you and many so called men of God are able to live this way because of people who give monetarily to support your ministry? You think anybody likes to feel like they are being hustled or pimped by their pastor for profit? People love God enough to give and trust that their money will be used to touch lives and souls with the Word of God and not to be used for throwing lavish birthday parties in Dubai.
Pastor Fatoyinbo : If you are going to build your own “kingdom,” do not build it on the backs of hardworking people who really just want a more intimate relationship with God and believe that you can point them in that direction. Don’t “floss” on the people; it is wickedness. It’s as if you’re saying, “Look at what I bought myself with your money. Don’t you like it? If you want it too, pray about it!”
American rapper Kanye West said in one of his songs, “I’ve been talking to God for so long, if you look at my life I guess he’s talking back.” But today, he is telling us he is Jesus “Yeezus”. He has deified himself. Pastor Fatoyinbo, your party in Dubai also suggests that you are deifying yourself, and on your own Yeezus tour, getting high on your own supply. Jesus said, “If I be lifted up.” (John 12:32) Unfortunately, you “with your lavish lifestyle” are lifting up yourself and making golden calf idols of your possessions.
Pastor Fatoyinbo, unless you willfully left heaven to take on human form, lived out a nomadic ministry on the margins, was crucified for your ministry, died, was buried, then rose again — sorry to say, it’s not about you.
Your followers are defending your frivolities arguing that pastors are people too, human and flawed. Of course, they are. But as a pastor “you don’t show people your wounds, show them your scars.”You do so as evidence that the journey with God brings about healing and transformation. People need and want to be whole. The question Jesus asked was “do you want to get well?” (John 5:6 NIV)
Christians often ask why Davido and Wizkid and entertainers should be the only ones with Bentleys and mansions. First, Bentleys and mansions don’t measure the quality of one’s life. Secondly, entertainers are people selling what people choose to purchase — music, movies, etc. As ministers of the gospel you are not selling God and faith. The Gospel is free.
The Bible is not the best-selling book in history because it has a good price point. It’s because people want to know God and know God loves them. Yes, there is a business side of ministry but literally for God’s sake, keep it to yourself. You don’t have to throw lavish parties as evidence of how much money you make. It only perpetuates the negative stereotypes true believers are constantly trying to disprove. Your expensive all white birthday party has only made people who are leery about church say “shebi I told you so.”
The mentality of most Nigerian believers that being rich and thinking money sets you free, gives you peace of mind and eliminates injustice, is a lie of the devil. Assimilation is not liberation. You can have all the things you want and still not be whole. The true test of how you live your life and success is what will be written in your obituary. What will people say about you, and what you did with your life? I’ve yet to see an obituary list all the expensive items someone owned. So, Pastor Fatoyinbo, go on your knees and cry to God for forgiveness.
Photos from Foluke Daramola and her husband's court wedding
Beautiful actress, Foluke Daramola and her husband, Kayode Salako had their court wedding at the Kosofe registry, Lagos this morning Saturday 13th of February 2016. Both of them have children from previous relationships.
