TONTO DIKEH’S STYLIST LAMBASTS GIDEON OKEKE

No doubt, many were shocked by the surprise marriage introduction between Tonto Dikeh and her Mr X, Churchill, which was held over the weekend in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.

There were many reactions to the issue, including from fellow actor, Gideon Okeke.

But the camp of the controversial actress were not happy with comments made by the Tinsel star concerning the matter and this has forced Tonto’s stylist, Michael Ogbodo, aka Swanky Jerry, to slam the handsome actor.

“Ha! So Aunty last marries ‘Mr X.’ Not like it's stops the rain from pouring though,” Gideon had posted on Twitter.

But Jerry is furious and has lampooned the actor.

“A man trying to bring a woman down, my goodness, what is the world turning into? An actor who should be busy going for auditions and trying to get jobs, but is busy checking other people's life and making silly comments about them being married. A man who could not accept his responsibilities.

“The female you are trying to bring down is 1 million times better than you on every level. You need to chill and come back next time when you can afford to feed over 15 dogs; bitter man trying to bring a woman down.

“Stop giving men bad names, go and take care of your responsibilities, time waits for no man. Keep it moving,” he wrote.

I’m not afraid of the EFCC, says Aregbesola

The Osun State Governor, Mr. Rauf Aregbesola, has said he is not afraid of being investigated by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.

The governor, who said this in response to the petition written against him by Mr. Yinka Odumakin to the EFCC, described the efforts of those who he called blackmailers as exercises in futility.

The governor’s response was contained in a statement made available to our correspondent by his media aide, Mr. Semiu Okanlawon, on Tuesday.

Aregbesola said he had been commended by the ICPC for the prudent manner he was managing the resources of the state.

The statement partly read, “Aregbesola has a record that will be hard to beat in public finance especially given the magnitude of the works done in relation to the resources that are available to the state.

“Please, let them ask the ICPC when they take their petition there next time for a copy of a letter by the anti-graft body written to Governor Aregbesola last year which formed the basis of the agency’s resolve to have Governor Aregbesola as the lead speaker at its lecture in 2014.

“Perhaps, that will further confirm why their efforts to blackmail this governor are exercises in futility.”

Odumakin, who is an indigene of Osun State but based in Lagos State, is one of the brains behind the Osun Stakeholders’ Summit which was allegedly prevented from holding in Osogbo, the state capital.

He accused the governor of massive corruption and financial recklessness which according to him had plunged the state into a financial mess.

He stated that the state and its citizens had been turned into objects of ridicule due to the alleged recklessness of the Aregbesola administration.

He said in the petition, “In addition, the state is littered with abandoned projects even though loans were secured by this administration to execute them. Today, our dear state has become the embodiment of lack, poverty, purposelessness and wickedness.”

 PUNCH

B’Haram kills 50 in Borno market

About 50 persons were on Tuesday killed when a bomb allegedly planted by members of the Boko Haram sect exploded at a village market in Borno State.

Though some members of the youth vigilance group said they counted 20 burnt corpses and 25 others injured victims of the blast, another military source told Reuters that the blast killed at least 47 people and injured another 52.

A member of the local youth vigilance group, Abubakar Ibrahim, told our correspondent on the telephone that “many people were killed in Sabon Gari market, along Maiduguri-Damboa-Biu highway, this (Tuesday) afternoon when a bomb explosion rocked the market.”

He added, “Our men heard a loud explosion at about 1.35pm. When they got there, they saw mangled bodies, burnt beyond recognition.”

Ibrahim added that the incident was not caused by a suicide bombing, but rather from a planted bomb at the centre of the market.

Another member of the youth vigilance group in Sabon Gari, Ishaq Abdullahi, told our correspondent on the telephone that they picked 20 mangled corpses from the market.

Abdullahi said 25 other persons were injured in the attack.

He said, “We were called to evacuate the corpses and assist the injured to the hospital. I counted 20 dead bodies and our men took 25 injured persons to the hospital.”

Sabon Gari is a village on Maiduguri-Damboa-Biu highway, a distance of about 140 kilometres from Maiduguri, the capital of Borno State.

Meanwhile, the police in Plateau State on Tuesday confirmed the killing of four persons following a cow rustling incident that occurred in Kadunung village in Mangu Local Government Area of the state.

The Mangu Divisional Police Officer, Mr. Williams Nkarang, confirmed the attack to the News Agency of Nigeria in Kadunung.

Nkarang said that he was waiting for the details from his men who went on a rescue mission to the village.

He also confirmed that his men had retrieved the corpses of the “four persons killed in the two different crises.’’

Also confirming the report, the Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Emmanuel Abu, said the command had commenced investigation into the two attacks with a view to bringing the culprits to book.

Abu said no arrest had been made so far but that the police was on top of the situation.

A reliable source had told NAN that two of the herdsmen were killed on Monday when unknown rustlers invaded a cattle range in the village.

The rustlers, according the source, were reported to have carted away unspecified number of cows to unknown destination.

“Again, just this afternoon, two brothers were killed by some unknown persons following a disagreement on the removal of a grinding machine by one Mr. Dutse Yusuf.

“In fact, as we speak, the whole village is in confusion as to what exactly is happening, ’’ lamented the source who spoke to NAN in anonymity.

The source alleged that trouble started “this afternoon when Yusuf came along with his children and attempted to remove and transfer their grinding machine to Dorong village in Barkin Ladi Local Government Area, where they reside’’.

According to him, the idea and action were said to have angered some Kadunung people, who engaged Yusuf and his children in an argument which degenerated into a fight that led to the killing of his two sons.

The source said the father of the deceased (Yusuf) was lucky to have escaped from the hands of their attackers.

Jonathan’s kinsmen defect to APC in Bayelsa

Kinsmen of former President Goodluck Jonathan, including Senator Clever Ikisikpo have said they left the Peoples Democratic Party because of the party’s method of operation.

Ikisikpo, a former representative of Bayelsa-East senatorial district in the Senate, spoke at a news conference on Tuesday at Kolo Creek in the Ogbia Local Government Area of Bayelsa State.

The senator said he and past federal and state lawmakers as well as former political office holders from Ogbia dumped the PDP because “it was being run like a one-man business.”

He said they joined the All Progressives Congress because of the transparency, internal democracy, equity and fairness in the party.

It was learnt that many residents in the area besieged the home of the former senator to indicate their interest to join him in the APC.

Ikisipo said, “What is happening is historic in the sense that we have now joined a new party and that is the reigning party.

“We will make sure that the APC becomes the ruling party in Bayelsa State and by the grace of God, come December 2015, the APC will take over this state. Of course, we are all ready to work as a team to make sure that we achieve our goal”.

The senator, who said he joined the PDP in 1998, explained that he left the party when it derailed from its founding principles.

He said the PDP was hijacked by “one man,” lamenting that the level of impunity in the party in the state was unbearable.

He said, “We formed the PDP in Bayelsa State. We made the PDP in Bayelsa but those who do not know how it came about came from behind and hijacked the party. I wont belong to a party where there is a high level of impunity, so I went to a system where there is transparency.

“I went to a place where the voice of every person is recognised, not a situation where only one person will dictate the pace for everybody. You cannot decide my destiny because it is God that gave me that destiny.”

Credit: PUNCH

OAU, banks close for Ooni’s burial rites

Residents of Ife were on Tuesday gripped by fear ahead of the official proclamation of the demise of the Ooni of Ife, Oba Okunade Sijuwade, which is expected to be made on Wednesday (today).

The monarch died in a hospital in the United Kingdom on July 28 but despite the media reports announcing the passage, the Ife Traditional Council had insisted that the monarch was alive.

However, the Head of the Oro Cult in Ife, who is also the Aware of Iwara Ife, Oba Layi Adereti, while speaking on the demise of the Ooni on Tuesday, said the worshippers of the deity would perform some rites on the passage of the Ooni on Wednesday.

Consequently, he urged residents to stay indoors between 9am and 4pm when the rite would last.

Some students of the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, living close to the heart of the town, told our correspondent that they would relocate to the campus till after the rites.

The management of the OAU has asked students who live on the campus to remain on the campus while it asked those living outside the campus to respect the tradition and stay indoors on Wednesday.

The university’s position was contained in a statement signed by the acting Dean of Students’ Affairs, Dr. I. M. Durosinmi, on Tuesday.

It reads, “This is to inform the generality of students that there shall be a curfew in Ile-Ife, on Wednesday, August 12, 2015 from 9am to 4pm and from 11pm till dawn.

“Students are therefore strongly advised to stay on campus while those outside the campus should remain indoors.

“The Division of the Students’ Affairs counts on the maturity and sense of responsibility of Great Ife students and appeals to all students to comply with the information and continue to keep the peace.”

Our correspondent observed on Tuesday that residents trooped to banks to withdraw money while some rushed to markets to buy foodstuffs.

Some banks in the town have also asked their workers to stay off work on Wednesday.

For instance, a worker at Access Bank in Ife told our correspondent that the bank had given its members of staff a holiday on Wednesday.

The official, who pleaded not to be named said, “We won’t open tomorrow (Wednesday) because of the rite which Ife chiefs said would be performed for the Ooni.

“We were asked to stay at home tomorrow (Wednesday) because of the rite by the Oro worshippers. We will resume on Thursday.”

It will be recalled that the Ooni was reported to have been flown out in an air ambulance following his illness but he died after receiving treatment for five days.

Credit: PUNCH

Looters’ trial will begin in few weeks – Buhari

The Federal Government is set to begin the trial of persons alleged to have stolen from the national coffers, President Muhammadu Buhari said on Tuesday.

Buhari said the trial would begin “in a matter of weeks.”

The President spoke while addressing members of the National Peace Committee, led by a former military Head of State, Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar, in the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

“Those who have stolen the national wealth will be in court in a matter of weeks and Nigerians will know those who have short-changed them,” the President told his guests.

But the committee, which Buhari has transformed into the National Peace Council, also told the President to remember that Nigeria was no longer under military rule and that he should follow due process in the trial of suspected looters.

A statement by Buhari’s Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina, quoted the President as telling Abubakar and members of his committee that his administration was irrevocably committed to doing all within its powers to break the vicious cycle of corruption, unemployment and insecurity in Nigeria.

“Nigeria has to break this vicious cycle before we can make progress,” the President said.

He added that his administration had been gathering facts and figures pertaining to the nation’s stolen funds and that identified culprits would be prosecuted.

Buhari also told members of the committee that the Federal Government, under his leadership, would not only ask for the return of stolen funds but also ensure that those who stole the funds were put on trial.

He said a single treasury account had been established for all federal revenues to ensure greater probity, transparency and accountability in the collection, disbursement and utilisation of national funds.

Buhari said, “We have really degenerated as a country. Our national institutions, including the military, which did wonderfully on foreign missions in the past, have been compromised. But we are doing something about it. The military is now retraining and morale has been resuscitated.

“As petroleum minister under Gen. Olusegun Obasanjo in the 1970s, I could not travel abroad until I had taken a memo to the Federal Executive Council, asking for estacode. Now, everybody does what he wants.

“That is why security-wise and economically, we’re in trouble.”

Abubakar and members of his committee urged the Federal Government to be guided by the rule of law in its fight against corruption.

A member of the committee, who is also the Catholic Bishop of Sokoto, Bishop Matthew Kukah, spoke with State House correspondents at the end of the closed-door meeting with the President.

The clergyman said, “It (the way corruption war is being fought) is not heating up the polity.

“In our conversation with (ex) President Goodluck Jonathan and members of the parties, I don’t think any Nigerian is in favour of corruption or is against the President’s commitment to ensuring that we turn a new leaf.

“I think what we are concerned about is the process. It is no longer a military regime and under our existing laws, everybody is innocent until proven guilty.

Again, our own commitment is not to intimidate or fight anybody. The former President’s commitment and what he did still remains spectacular and I think that President Buhari himself appreciates that.

“So, our effort really is to make sure that the right thing is done.”

Jonathan had reportedly complained to the committee over alleged victimisation of his aides by the incumbent administration in its anti-corruption crusade.

The former President met with Buhari on Thursday night in what many believed was on the same issue.

Kukah said members of the committee, which was formed in the run-up to the 2015 general elections, gave Buhari an update on the activities of the committee and how members could help to nurture peace in the country.

He confirmed that members of the committee had met with Jonathan after meeting with some political parties.

He claimed the meeting with Buhari was not at Jonathan’s instance, saying the parley was a continuation of a series of intervention aimed at getting feedback from the conduct of the last elections.

He said, “Anybody is free to come to our committee but President Jonathan never by telephone or other means talked to the committee.

“We went to see him, but that is after we had already seen members of the political parties and members of the civil society.

“We planned to see the Speaker (of the House of Representatives) because we couldn’t see him yesterday.

“This is a much-planned series of intervention, essentially just to hear out everybody and I think the good news is that Nigerians are committed to a new nation, they are committed to ensuring that the gains and blessings God has given us come to fruition.”

Kukah said the meeting with the President was neither an intervention nor a hearing session.

He said Buhari also stated the need for the committee to continue to help build confidence when the need arises.

The priest added, “This is not an intervention; it is not a hearing out process. When we had election, it was like a wedding now the reality of government is now the marriage and people need to be encouraged.

“We need to reaffirm that this is our country and the only thing we can collectively be opposed to is injustice, iniquity, corruption and in that regard we all had one single conversation.

“The President has also reaffirmed the need for this committee to continue, and the international community has very much welcomed the contributions of the committee.

“Essentially, we are not policing, but when the need arises, we will help to build confidence in the process.”

Members of the National Peace Committee on the visit included the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar; Cardinal John Onaiyekan; President of the Christian Association of Nigeria, Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor; and the Primate of the Anglican Church of Nigeria, Archbishop Nicholas Okoh.

Others were Justice Rose Ukeje (retd), Prof. Ameze Guobadia, Publisher of Vanguard Newspapers, Sam Amuka; a former President of the Nigerian Bar Association, Priscilla Kuye; Senator Ben Obi, Dr. Yunusa Tanko and Dr Arthur-Martin Aginam.

At the meeting, Buhari allowed the committee to transform into a National Peace Council.

PUNCH

Kim Kardashian shares nude pic

Reality star, @KimKardashian who is almost six months along in her second pregnancy, thrilled her fans on yesterday after sharing a nude photo of her baby bump to buttress her sexy style.

The famous TV personality said she uploaded the photograph because she has learnt to love her body at every stage even when she is getting bigger saying she equally sees that as beautiful.

I’ve learned to love my body at every stage! I’m going to get even bigger & that’s beautiful too! I’m blessed to even be pregnant!