Messi, C Ronaldo & Iniesta nominated for 2012 Fifa Ballon

FIFA has revealed the names of the three players who remain in the race to win the World Footballer of the Year award 2012. They are Andres Iniesta (Spain, FC Barcelona), Lionel Messi (Argentina/FC Barcelona) and Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal/Read Madrid) The winner will be revealed at the FIFA Ballon d’Or gala as part of a televised show at the Zurich Kongresshaus on 7 January 2013. Who do you think should win this year?

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JK warns: Careful with EAC monetary union negotiations.

The President of Tanzania Jakaya Kikwete warned on Tuesday the East African Community's negotiating team on monetary union protocol to be very careful, as it is an important phase of the regional integration process.

He sounded the warning when addressing members of the East African Legislative Assembly (EALA), who gathered in the oval EALA chamber in EAC's new headquarters building in Arusha, Tanzania's northern safari capital.

In 2005, the EAC implemented the Customs Union and five years later, in July 2010, the Common Market kicked off and the Monetary Union has been lined up as the third stage of the regional integration process.

He said EAC member countries have been negotiating on the best ways to get into the monetary union as well as getting into a single currency; "but this should be taken as a delicate stage than all stages the region bloc has gone through."

Kikwete further revealed that monetary union is not a simple thing as some people believe as it requires the region to come up with one regional fiscal and monetary policy.

"If this area is not carefully designed, it will put the region into trouble as what is happening in Greece, which is under the European Union. Individual states will be given benchmarks on the amount of money the country want to borrow from outside the regional boundaries," he said.

He further noted that monetary union is core when it comes to regional integration processes, saying the former EAC collapsed due to the monetary union.

"I take this opportunity to ask experts and all those involved in the negotiations to learn from the past experience…don't rush into this area. What happened in 1967 should make us do no mistakes," the Tanzanian leader warned.

He also cited some challenges facing the implementation of the common market protocol as high cost of doing business as well as lacks infrastructure at national and regional levels the area that need to be addressed.

"We also need to speed-up the process of domesticating key issues in the common market protocol," he said.

Speaker of the EALA Margaret Nantongo Zziwa asked EAC Partner States to do more in realizing the tenets of the common market protocol, which is soon approaching the third year of implementation.

She said that the protocol is facing a number of challenges including Non-Tariff Barriers (NTBs), which bar free flow of business in the region.

Other challenges according to Zziwa include lack of awareness among citizens of the EAC and the need to speed up decision-making by the sectoral committees and the council of ministers.

The speaker also assured the Partner States that EALA will continue to push forward the regional integration agenda so that the bloc remained an important cornerstone to East Africans.

SOURCE: THE GUARDIAN

Clarity Consultants

FOOD CULTURE IN TANZANIA.

6 DIFFERENT MEALS FOUND IN TANZANIA.

These are 6 different foods found in Tanzania that you cannot find in Nigeria, maybe till you open a food cuisine in Nigeria just to get this East African taste. The cuisine in East Africa, specifically in Tanzania differ from area to area.

1.       CHAPATI.

Several centuries back, the British and the Indians came, and both brought with them their foods, like Indian spiced vegetable curries, lentil soups, chapattis and a variety of pickles.

2.       WHITE RICE AND BIG BROWN BEANS. (Wali Maharage, in Swahili).

 Around 1000 years ago, the Arabs settled in the coastal areas of East Africa, and Arabic influences are especially reflected in the Swahili cuisine of the coast – steamed cooked rice with spices in Persian style, use of saffron, cloves, cinnamon, coconut oil and several other spices, and pomegranate juice.

3.       FRIED CHIPS MIXED WITH EGGS. ( Chipsi mayai, in Swahili)

4.       MAIZE FLOUR (Ugali) with cabbage.

 Maize (corn) is the basis of ugali, the East African version of West Africa's fufu. Ugali is a starch dish eaten with meats or stews.

5.       PLENTY OF SEA FOOD.

Underlying the fact that, on the Eastern part of East Africa having boundaries  with the Indian Ocean thus making East Africa cuisine rich in sea food starting from scrubs to King fish.

6.       SAMOSA. (Sambusa)

It’s normally consumed as a snack sipped inn with juice or soda (mineral).

By- Gizzel Mbaga

Elephant population in Tanzania sanctuaries drops.

The number of elephants in two wildlife sanctuaries in Tanzania has fallen by nearly 42 percent in just three years, a census showed on Tuesday, as poachers increasingly killed the animals for their tusks.

The census at the Selous Game Reserve and Mikumi National Park revealed elephant numbers had plunged to 43,552 in 2009 from 74,900 in 2006.
It was carried out by the East African country's wildlife authority, Tanzania Wildlife Research Institute, as part of a government plan to conserve wildlife.
The rapid fall prompted President Jakaya Kikwete to order an investigation, his office said on Tuesday.

Conservationists estimate Tanzania has a total elephant population of between 110,000 and 140,000, making it one of the largest sanctuaries in Africa.
But in recent years, Tanzania and neighbouring Kenya have suffered a steep rise in poaching as criminals killed elephants and rhinos for their tusks and horns for sale in Asia.

TRAFFIC, a conservation group that tracks trends in wildlife trading, said in a statement last week that 2011 had been a record year for ivory seizure. It pointed to a surge in elephant poaching in Africa to meet Asian demand for tusks for use in jewelry and ornaments.

Elephants, the world's largest land mammals, are also under pressure in many parts of the continent from loss of habitat to humans, pollution and climate change. Their number has fallen to 470,000-685,000 from millions just decades ago, conservationists say.

Kikwete also ordered the Tanzania Wildlife Research Institute to investigate the disappearance of the rare Roosevelt's sable antelope from national parks, and to look for ways of re-introducing the animal in at least in one of the parks, the statement said.

The last Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) in 2007 agreed to a nine-year moratorium on any further trade in ivory, after some 105 tonnes of elephant ivory had been sold from Botswana, Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe to China and Japan. (Reporting by Fumbuka Ngw'anakilala; Editing by Duncan Miriri and Alessandra Rizzo)

Enugu State Police assure of safety of kidnapped former VC

The Enugu State Police Command on Monday said it would ensure the release of the kidnapped former Vice Chancellor, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Anambra State, Prof. Ilochi Okafor.

The former VC was kidnapped on Sunday at his residence at 31 Pioneer Ave, Independence Layout, Enugu, while leaving  for church.

The Police Public Relations Officer, Mr. Ebere Amaraizu, told the News Agency of Nigeria in Enugu that the command had commenced a search for the former vice chancellor.

“The police are doing everything possible to ensure the release of the professor. I cannot reveal what we are doing now, but I assure you that he will be safe,” Amaraizu said.

Amaraizu appealed to the public to be security conscious, especially during the forthcoming festive period, and report any suspicious movement around them.

Don Jazzy turns 30 today, set to be unveiled as Loya Milk Amb.

The ace music producer and CEO of Mavin Records turns 30 today November 26th. It's also his dad's 60th birthday today. Big birthday shoutout to them.

Meanwhile, he recently signed a 2 year deal as Loya Milk brand ambassador. He will be unveiled as  brand ambassador this Friday November 30th at Renaissance hotel, Alausa, Ikeja, lagos.
Fingers Crossed!

Owning a private jet is a necessity, not a luxury" - Pastor Oritsejafor

In this interview with Vanguard, CAN president Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor tells the story of how his Canadian-made Bombardier jet was acquired.

"I’m not ashamed to own a plane, I think it is a necessity and not a luxury for some of us deeply involved in the work of God to own planes.

See the full interview after the cut...




There is a huge gap between spirituality and actual faith in God. There is the belief that the love of money has taken over Christendom, rather than  the preaching of  undiluted gospel of salvation. Why do you think there is a shift towards prosperity?

First of all, as somebody who has preached the gospel for 40 years, I know that the gospel is a total package—it is for the spirit, mind and body. What has happened through the years is that in every dispensation, there is emphasis that becomes stronger than the others and such emphasis does not reduce the format but add to the format.

For example, Martin Luther was the one who searched the scripture to see how the Word of God could change the human being. But as time went on, we started seeing the Baptists. The reason why we call them Baptists is because the founder laid a lot of emphasis on water baptism; that is why today they are being called Baptists, not because they don’t believe that you need to accept Christ and be saved and go to heaven. What happened was that the founder had a revelation and a very deep understanding and conviction in the area of water baptism and he emphasized that.

Again, today, when you give your life to Christ, there is a big emphasis on salvation; that is accepting Christ and walking in the knowledge of Christ. Now, the revelation is progressing; as that went on, there are people who through inspiration and the study of the Word  have more understanding in the area of prosperity and so started emphasizing on prosperity.

The problem is that there are those who preach and their whole understanding is in the area of prosperity. I think that is not good. I believe there should be a balance. I don’t believe you should not preach prosperity, but I don’t think you should preach prosperity and neglect the preaching of salvation, because we are still going to heaven at the end of everything.

This world cannot be a permanent place. If you live very long, according to scripture, probably you will live for 120 years but, at the end of the day, you will still die and go, so where are you going? So it is important to emphasize on salvation, knowing Christ and going to heaven.
Now, what will eventually happen is that, with time, these things will level out and those who place   emphasis on prosperity will realize that prosperity cannot be the main thing. The main thing must still be holy living and going to heaven. So this is basically what is going to happen.


I will say what I have always said that we must emphasize on the area of living for God. That is why Nigeria has problem today. People who go to church, especially those who, one way or the other, are privileged to be in certain positions, forget the basic thing of God, which is the fear of God and all they want is money, they forget about really serving God.

They don’t take God to their work place, they don’t bring God to the positions where God has put them, but I believe that, eventually, these things will level out and the right thing will take its place.


For 40 years, you have been in the pulpit preaching the gospel of God, during which there have been miracles, touching lives and all that. But there are certain things that some people don’t know about you and this has to do with your calling. How did you get the divine call?

I have shared it so many times but I don’t mind repeating it because it is the main thing about my life. My mother prayed to have a male child. She told God that if He gave her a male child, she would give him back to Him. That was my mother’s prayer at the First Baptist Church in Lagos.
That was how she conceived and I was born. I didn’t know this prayer and my mother forgot about the prayer just like any average human being will do.  So I grew up and went my own way and lived my own life and got into a lot of vices, a lot of things that were not right. I have told people that if there is any bad thing that anybody could do in this world, I did it.

Can you elaborate on this?
(Laughs) Well, at my age and at my level in life, these are things that we are not proud of and will not want to give these things  prominence, but I was into so many wrong things. I leave the rest to your imagination. Yes, this was the life I lived.

However, I remember one day, I was walking along Marina in Lagos, very sad, I couldn’t explain why. You know, when you live on the wrong side of life for a while, that  is how you feel. But even the worst human beings you see today on the street, no matter how bad they look, they still have soft spots.

That  night, around 9.00 p.m., I was walking along Marina then, Marina was Marina and not the one you have today. There have been a lot of changes. Tears started rolling down my cheeks and I started praying, well, should I really call it a prayer? It wasn’t a prayer as such.
I said, ‘God, if you are God, do something and change me, I cannot continue with this kind of life’. Three months later, I came home, to Sapele, because my mother was here and one night somebody gave me a handbill inviting me to a crusade.

I just didn’t think I was one of those that should be invited to a crusade because I wasn’t that kind. But I went to the crusade and I heard the Word of God preached by the late Archbishop Benson Idahosa and that turned around my life. For the first time, something touched me. That was when I gave my life to Christ, and my life changed 360 degrees.

It is difficult to comprehend this because the, very next day, I bought a Bible and began to preach. It was like I lost my mind, but I think what must have happened was; remember my mother’s prayer many years back. You may forget, but God doesn’t forget.

I think God just took what belonged to Him, because, the very next day, I started to preach. I went to a market place, people gathered and I started preaching. People gathered because they knew the person I was; certainly, they had gathered to see a mad man but it turned out that I was preaching the Word of God. The very next day, people came out and gave their lives to Christ, and the rest is history.

The issue of succession in Pentecostal churches has gotten to a worrisome dimension. Founders and their followers engage in crises on who takes over when the leaders are out. The development sometimes leads to physical fights and often breakaways as those who feel they contributed to the growth of the churches insist the next persons in leadership must either be the wives, children, brother or direct relatives of the founders. What do you have to say about this?

I think there must never be a stereotype. I don’t believe that the fact that the woman is married to a man therefore she has to take over. A man can be a pastor and the wife may not have the call. We must come to a place where we must believe and accept the fact that if you push a woman into something that God did not call her, that ministry will collapse.

It will die on its own. But the other side of the coin is that it could be that the woman is also called. So if the woman is called, what do you do? Do you say that because she is the founder’s wife, she should not take her place? You can’t say that, that is why I say that there must never be a stereotype.
It depends on the call, it depends  on God’s hands upon who ever. So, it could be the wife, it could be the son, it could be a brother in the church, it could be one of the pastors, it could be a total stranger. Sometimes, when we read the Bible, we don’t want to admit what we read in the Bible because we  already have a mindset.

When you read the Bible, you will discover some interesting things. For example, when Jesus was here on earth, you would always conclude that the leader of the disciples was Peter, because of certain statements, certain things, but if you study very closely, you will find out that Jesus never appointed anybody.

He never appointed anybody to take over from him. So, that is a big point right there. Now, it is interesting that when you go to the book of Acts and study it very closely, you will find out that the only time we see an authentic leader of the church, you discover that the man that became the leader was Jesus’ half brother.

That is a bit strange. You will find out that even Peter submitted himself to James. I am not talking of the James that was one of the disciples. I am talking about  James that was one of Jesus’ brothers; the same mother with Jesus. We know that Mary had other children, after Jesus. One of those children was James and when Jesus was physically alive, none of them believed in him.

They stayed away from him but, after he died, they accepted the gospel that he preached and,  interestingly, one of them, James, became the head of the Church. The Bible tells us that at a point, when there was a problem in the Church and there were two factions—one group was the Peter group and the other group was the Paul group.

Now, there was a contention and it was over whether Christians should accept Christ who was not  a  Jew. Should they circumcise themselves and all that? One group said no and the other said yes. It became a very big problem and it was James who stood up and said: “This is my decision.
You must go to the Gentiles and tell them they don’t have to do this and that. This is what they must do”. You see, that tells you vividly who the leader was. So my point is this, that Peter accepted the leadership of James; obviously, Peter was already a disciple before  James accepted Christ.
But he was humble enough to accept him as his leader. James did not make himself a leader; obviously, they all agreed that he should be the leader. That shows you the level of spirituality. If it is today, how would you interpret it? You will definitely say that the brother of the founder of the Church is now the leader of the Church.

There appears to be part-time and full-time pastors in the Church today, a development that has necessitated people to give conflicting reactions. Is it right to have part-time pastors in the service of God?

Look, I may say some things that are a bit different from what you have known or what you may have heard. I say things because I am convinced and you will have to find a way to digest it. Every Christian is in full-time ministry. Any other job you are doing is the one that is part-time.
If there was enough money, there would have been no need for one to work because our full-time job is to be Christians and win others to Christ. But a church must function and there are many things that must happen—life must go on, people must eat and live; if your wife is pregnant and goes to hospital, you have to pay the bills.

That is why 99 per cent of church members have jobs. If you study the Bible very carefully, you may see something that will shock you. Are you aware that Apostle Paul, everywhere he went to, to start a church, got a job? In fact, he went as far as explaining why, so that the gospel would not be abused or looked down upon; so that people will not think that he was preaching this gospel because he wanted the people’s money.

He was a lawyer by profession, but wherever he went to and couldn’t get a law job, he found something else to do and he was good at tent making. So he would start a tent making business wherever he started a church, he would go out to make tent, sell the tent and have enough money to feed everybody that was with him, and he would take care of himself and everything. So there is nothing wrong with a man who has a job and he is preaching the gospel.

Nigerian pastors are accused of prospering while their congregants continue to suffer in poverty. What is your take on this?
Well, let me begin like this, this is a major issue, especially now that I have just been presented with a gift of a jet. That makes it a major issue. Let me say here that every pastor must be conscious of the people he pastors. It is very important. I can tell you that as a pastor for 40 years now, if you talk to people that are genuinely my members, they will tell you the kind of pastor that am I.
If you watched me today, I was talking about a young man who has been trying to go to a university for three years now. I didn’t know him from Adam. One day, after a service here, one of my pastors brought him to me. As soon as he saw me, he held my legs and began to cry! He showed me all the papers, pleading that he had tried to gain admission to any university here, it never worked.

So he finally got admission to study in Cyprus. I paid his school fees, helped him with ticket and everything he needed, he’s gone. He has since resumed school and is there in Cyprus now. How many people will know that? In the last seven to eight years now, I have paid school fees of over 100 people in different universities, polytechnics and colleges of education.

Some of them have graduated and have come here to share their testimonies, excitements and even their parents have come here to thank us. I don’t know them from anywhere. Every December 26, I do a very big thing here. We call it poverty alleviation.
This year, December 26, we will equally do it. Last December 26, I gave out about six brand new cars to people; your denomination means nothing. Whether you are a Muslim or a native doctor means nothing here. What qualifies you is if you are a human being. I gave out 25 tricycles, about 100 sewing machines, and grinding machines.

Some of these people come here to give testimonies; some are now married and have children. There was this young boy, a Moslem from Auchi. This young man, nothing good was coming out of his life, he was rejected, nobody wanted him and one of our pastors took him into a teaching centre and he was sleeping in the teaching centre. They were helping him. This boy had  driver’s  licence, I don’t know how he got it. He had no job and couldn’t do anything.

Last two years, when we were doing the poverty alleviation, he applied.  And they brought out a name which happened to be this boy’s and he won a brand new car. Today, that boy has rented his own house; in fact, his parents who are Muslims came to church on a Sunday and worshipped with me and danced all over the place and, after the service, they came to me and thanked me, saying ‘oh, this boy that you don’t even know from anywhere, you dashed him a car.’

They were very happy. Besides that, many lives have been transformed here. We have changed many lives. We have an orphanage here. As we are talking, an American couple has gotten in touch with me. They want to adopt a child from our orphanage. We have a clinic here that hopefully will develop into a full blown hospital. People go there and pay little something for treatment, but generally on Sundays people are treated free.

These are some of the things we do. Most people don’t know this and I don’t think I am the only pastor doing this. So a lot of people who are saying this against pastors are just being mischievous. They may have their reasons, some of them are bitter about something and they are not telling the full story about what is making them bitter.

But like I said, a good pastor must be concerned about his people. We have buses that we use in carrying people. If I tell you some of the things that we used to do, it will shock you. There is a woman in my church, when she came to this church, she had probably two blouses and a wrapper, no slippers, not even  bathroom slippers.

She had never entered a classroom before. I didn’t even know her. She is from one of these oil bearing communities. There was a time an oil company in their community wanted to do business with them and she was interested but had no money. She came to us for assistance. I don’t think, at that time, she had ever seen N10,000 in her life.

So she went to our micro-finance bank, Mama (my wife) runs it without salary, she and all our directors don’t earn one naira. She went to the bank and said she wanted to borrow money. My wife asked her; `how much do you have in your account’, and she said, I don’t even have an account’.
My wife looked at her, and she called me about it and I said, `look, leave me out of it’. We didn’t even have that kind of money at that time. She asked the woman again, `how much do you have now and the woman said N2,000′. She now advised her to use that money to open an account and she did. Mama now went round to source for the amount.

The short story here is that she got the money, did her business and in less than six months, she paid back the money she collected. As we speak now, she is one of the richest women in Warri. She bought me an incredible car that cost millions of naira some years ago.

Coming to the issue of jet, I had no single idea of how it came about. It is true that people like us have gotten to a point where we need to have means of movement that will help us. You may have heard me speak about my trip to Indonesia, to Jakarta.

In fact,  it wasn’t even Jakarta I was going to, but I had to stay inside an airport in Jakarta for five hours to wait for my flight, to get to the very city I was going. I was only going to preach for two hours there. I flew from Lagos to Dubai and I spent over three hours, changed flight to fly to Jakarta and then stayed five hours at the airport just to catch a flight to where I was going to, where I was to preach for just two hours.

And after everything, I got a flight from that place again to Jakarta, stayed at the airport again for another five hours, then flew into Dubai, stayed again at the airport for another three hours before I flew into Lagos. It took me four days to make a journey to preach for two hours. I’m a human being and I am not getting younger every day.
And locally, it is worse, for instance, the acting General Secretary of CAN lost his father in a place outside Uyo, Akwa Ibom State and I had to be there. I preached in a place in Lagos on a Friday and needed to be back to Warri on a Saturday, but at the end of the day, the plane that would have taken me was no where.

I had to charter a plane for N3.5 million to take me to Uyo, waited for me to finish and then take me back to Warri. Two weeks ago, a young pastor in Port Harcourt built a new church and had been on me all this while to come and dedicate the church and suddenly from no where, there was this flood that cut off the road to Port Harcourt.

There is no road now to Port Harcourt. If you want to go by road now, it takes you up to 12 hours to get to Port Harcourt and I had to preach in Port Harcourt, I had to preach in Lagos, I had to preach in Abuja and other places. Finally, I was able to find my way to Port Harcourt, it was on a Saturday.
I had to get to Warri that Saturday so as to be able to preach the next day, Sunday. Do you know what I had to finally do? I chartered a helicopter that cost me N2 million to drop me in Warri. When they dropped me here, ah, I can’t tell you how I felt that I had to part with that sum. But I had promised the young man and the church and if I had said  no, will it be right? I can go on and on and on.
So, sometimes, my schedule is so complicated. Now, with this plane, it changes everything about my movements. Now, I can move, I can even go and come back home. It is a bit more convenient for me and I suspect that this is one of the reasons a lot of these other preachers have planes.

Does your congregation understand all these engagements?
They do. They feel the pain I go through and they feel painful for not seeing me most of the time. They don’t like it, they are troubled.  I know some people buy planes, I can’t buy plane. I can’t afford it. I don’t have that kind of money, I still don’t know the people that bought this plane, but I know that there is a committee.

I hope you will get to meet with some of the people in that committee, I don’t  know them. My wife is more involved with them.  She (my wife) never talked to me, (about it) and she was acting strange. Well, I don’t want to get involved in this. This is my story about the plane. And I’m not ashamed to own a plane, I think it is a necessity and not a luxury for some of us deeply involved in the work of God to own planes.

AFRICA & MALNUTRITION..

It’s funny how Africa being a land of agriculturalists and pastoralists, but it’s the same place where hunger and malnutrition originates.

Are our African governments doing enough on food crops management and security?

What do we use our major natural resource, LAND for?

Sympathizing, Instead of Youths looking for employment, WE can create our own employments in the Agriculture Sector.

LET’S CHALLENGE OURSELVES!!

By- Gizzel Mbaga

Boxing Legend Hector Camacho Dead At Age 50 After Shooting

Famed boxer Hector Camacho died after he was taken off life support early Saturday, a hospital spokeswoman in Puerto Rico told CNN.

A passing gunman on Tuesday shot Camacho, who was in a car in front of a bar in his hometown of Bayamon, Puerto Rico.

He was declared clinically brain dead on Thursday and placed on life support.

Camacho, 50, suffered a heart attack and had been taken off life support, said Wilmelis Marquez, spokeswoman for the Rio Piedras Medical Center.
Boxer Hector 'Macho' Camacho dies at 50

He was pronounced dead at 1:45 a.m., she said.

She said his organs were not healthy enough to be donated.

Camacho, a former lightweight and junior lightweight champion, was in the passenger seat of the car, police said. The driver was shot twice and killed, they said.

The suspects are two men believed to have been traveling in a gray vehicle, said Lt. Wilfredo Rivera of Cataño Police. They escaped after a shootout with police at a residential complex, WAPA TV reported.

Camacho was considered a promoter's godsend because he was a showman in the ring against some of the greatest fighters of his era: Sugar Ray Leonard, Roberto Duran, Oscar de la Hoya, Julio Cesar Chavez, Felix Trinidad and Vinny Pazienzia.

He was known for long, flashy trunks with tassels, and he enjoyed being theatrical, as evidenced by his "Macho" nickname.

His flamboyance was as dazzling as his hand-and-foot speed, and his titles and victories attested to his talent.

A southpaw, he won world titles in the classes of super lightweight, lightweight and junior welterweight in the 1980s. He amassed a record of 79 victories, six losses and three draws.

Among his high-profile bouts was his 1997 knockout of Leonard, ending his comeback effort. But the same year, Camacho lost to de la Hoya.

His most recent fight was in 2010, when he was well past his prime and his life was being marked by drug, alcohol and marital problems. He lost that bout to Saul Duran.

Camacho was born in Bayamon and was raised in New York after his family moved to Spanish Harlem.

In 2005, he was arrested in Mississippi on charges of trying to rob an electronics store and possession of the drug ecstasy. He was later given probation.

This year, Camacho was ordered by a Florida court not to have contact with his ex-wife 13-year-old son after allegations that Camacho had attacked the boy.

His survivors include another son who is also a boxer, Hector "Machito" Camacho Jr.

JTF places bounty on Boko Haram leaders after 20 mini-skirt ladies massacred in Maiduguri

Barely 24 hours after over ten people were slaughtered in Maiduguri, twenty ladies in mini skirts and trousers were yesterday slaughtered in their separate homes in the metropolis by yet to be identified terrorists.

Also the Joint Task Force, Operation ‘Restore Order’, Friday,  placed a bounty on suspected terrorists and members of Boko Haram.

This ugly development in Maiduguri is one of its kind, as many believed that most of the daily killings in Borno are only targeted at men and security agencies.

The slaughtering of about twenty different ladies, our correspondent gathered, took place in the early hours of yesterday precisely at about 1 to 2am when most of residents were still asleep in their houses due to the curfew imposed by state government.

A source told our correspondent that the most hit areas were Mary wards, few meters away from the University of Maiduguri,  one of the places accommodating students of the institution living off-Campus due to accommodation shortage.

Also affected according to investigation, were ladies living close to the black spots areas of Gwange, London Chiki, Abbagaram, Kaleri areas where series of killings and bomb blasts had occurred in the past, killing JTF officers.

When contacted on phone, both the JTF spokesman, Lieutenant Colonel Sagir Musa and the Police Commissioner, Mr. Yuguda Abdullahi said that they are not in Maiduguri, the state capital to confirm the incident.

But a top JTF Commander  said, he had directed his men to the affected areas yesterday morning  to evacuate the remains of over twenty girls slaughtered within the Maiduguri metropolis.

N50m bounty placed on Boko Haram leaders

Meanwhile, the Joint Task Force, Operation ‘Restore Order’, Maiduguri, have declared the suspected terrorists wanted and placed a reward on each of them.  They are wanted in connection with terrorist activities particularly in the region that led to the killings, bombings and assassinations of some civilians, religious leaders, traditional rulers, businessmen, politicians, civil servants and security personnel amongst others.  They are also wanted for arson and destruction of properties worth several millions of Naira.

A statement listed 19 alleged senior members of the extremist group blamed for hundreds of deaths in connection with its insurgency in northern and central Nigeria as suspects.

The rewards ranged from N50million for the suspected leader of the group, Abubakar Shekau, to N10 million for various Boko Haram “commanders”.

Lieutenant Colonel Sagir Musa, who issued the statement on behalf of the  Military Task Force operating in the region  did not respond to phone calls. Violence linked to Boko Haram’s insurgency is believed to have left over 3,000 people dead since 2009, including killings of security forces.

Funke Akindele goes back to school; revels in new environment

As part of a sensitization program by Funke Akindele in partnership with the governor of Imo State in Nigeria, Funke Akindele gets back into the groove in school uniform to highlight the need to sustained early education through to at least completion of high school level.

Not only was she back in the uniform, but the state’s governor also joined in with his uniform too. They sure are enjoying and reminiscing on the good old days when they were young.

Bringing back any memories for you?

John Obi Mikel Charged As Referee Accused Of Making Racist Remarks Cleared

Trouble: John Obi Mikel stormed into Mark Clattenburg's room

The Football Association has cleared referee Mark Clattenburg of using “inappropriate language” towards Chelsea midfielder John Obi Mikel.
 
But Mikel, 25, has been charged by the FA with misconduct following his involvement in the incident.
 
The Blues had claimed Clattenburg directed racial language at Mikel in their home defeat by Manchester United.
 
Clattenburg said it was “truly frightening” to have faced the prospect that his career might be over.
Following the match at Stamford Bridge on October 28, the FA interviewed Clattenburg, Mikel and several other Blues players before reaching its decision to clear the official and charge the Nigerian.
 
“It is alleged that in or around the match officials’ changing room at the end of the fixture, Mikel used threatening and/or abusive and/or insulting words and/or behaviour,” an FA statement read.
 
Mikel has until Friday, 30 November to respond. Chelsea have indicated he will not deny the charge but will request a hearing to “explain the mitigating circumstances”.
 
The evidence for Chelsea’s allegation towards Clattenburg came from their midfielder Ramires who, when interviewed, explained that his instinctive reaction was to seek confirmation from Mikel as to what the referee said.
 
Mikel, who was being spoken to by Clattenburg, was much closer than Ramires and did not hear what it is suggested was said to him.
 
The two assistant referees and the fourth official revealed they did not hear any of the comments Clattenburg was accused of making, despite being linked up to the referee via microphones.
 
An FA statement also said the complaint by Mikel’s team-mate Ramires was “made in good faith”.
Clattenburg, 37, has always maintained his innocence and the Metropolitan Police dropped its own inquiry earlier this month.
 
He missed four weekends of Premier League matches while the FA investigated Chelsea’s complaint.
“I am looking forward to putting this behind me and concentrating on refereeing in the Premier League and other competitions,” said Clattenburg.
 
“The messages of encouragement from those inside and outside of the game have helped me through the most stressful time of my professional life.
 
“To know you were innocent but there was the opportunity for it to wreck your career was truly frightening.
 
“Racism has no place in football and this experience should not discourage those to speak out if they genuinely believe they are a victim of abuse.”

Nigeria According To Economists Is The Worst Place To Be Born In The World

Nigeria is known for many things, some good and admittedly, some really bad. In recent times, there have been a number of research reports completed by international organizations and the results have not be favourable for Nigeria.

In October 2012, the African Insurance Organisation ranked Nigeria as the “Kidnap for Ransom Capital of the World” accounting for 25% of Global Kidnappings. In June 2012, the Global Peace Index ranked Nigeria as the sixth most dangerous African country to live in.

Each time such results are released, it is usually followed by debates on various online platforms with many questioning the authenticity of the results.

Yesterday, the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), a sister company of The Economist magazine released results of its 2013 Where-to-be-born Index. This time, Nigeria is ranked as No. 80 out of 80 countries assessed.  Basically making it the WORST country to be born in out of the countries analyzed.

In the “Where-To-Be-Born Index” 2013, Nigeria has the lowest score of 4.74 points, placing us at the 80th position.

It ranks Switzerland as the best country to be born in with 8.22 points. The United States of America and Germany tie in the 16th position with 7.38 points.

Among the African countries on the list, South Africa comes first in the 53rd position with 5.89 points followed by Algeria in the 54th position with 5.86 points.

Tagged : Nigeria Worst Place To Be Born, Kidnap for Ransom Capital of the World, Worlds Worst Place To Be Born