Angry Fans Label Ini Edo 'Bloody Liar' Over Pregnancy Denial

In May 2012, a popular magazine, National Enquirer exclusively reported that sexy actress, Ini Edo was pregnant. The news item, which went viral, was received with joy by teeming fans of the Nollywood diva.

This may have been as a result of tongues that have wagged after the actress married her heartthrob over three years ago without a child. So, the pregnancy news was met with joy by her fans.

But in a twist, Ini Edo took to her website to deny the news. She claimed that the story was false and that there was no iota of truth in it.

According to her post on her website then, "Heard some people want to send me on nine-month compulsory leave? Not true yet. Disregard the rumour. I will let you know when it happens.

"Meanwhile, there is something cooking I will let you know soon, lets keep our fingers crossed. Peace," she disclosed in May 2012.

Soon after she denied the story, her fans vented their anger on the media. They labelled the Nigerian press as carrying untrue stories. Some said the media do such stories in order to boost sales (print media) or increase traffic (online media).

Recall that also in May 2012, her friend and colleague, Uche Jombo denied a reported marriage story about her. She even went on Twitter to deny the story. Uche then wrote that the media were trying to force her to marry. She later told her fans not to believe everything they read in the media.

But few days later, precisely on May 16, Uche secretly married her American lover, Kenny Rodriguez. The news shocked many due to the fact that Uche had reportedly denied being getting married just few days before her marriage.

Just few weeks ago, news went viral again that Ini Edo has confirmed being pregnant. This was reportedly confirmed to a magazine, E24-7 in a interview with the paper. Though this news has also been welcomed by her fans, but some sections of the fans are angry with Ini over her initial denial of the pregnancy news two months ago.

According to an anonymous fan, "why do Nigerian celebrities like denying news stories only for them to later come out true? They lie a lot. I am beginning to dislike most of them."

Another fan told Nigeriafilms.com, "Ini Edo is such a bloody liar! Why did she deny the pregnancy news initially? Was she trying to make ridicule of the Nigerian media?"

"I am beginning to get pissed off with Ini Edo, she is a big liar. She made her fans believed the initial story was false. Is being pregnant not a good thing anymore? They can't try this with the British media. You don't insult the British or American media and go away with it that way. They would have run down your career. I think the Nigerian media need to do that to most celebs that ridicule them," another angry fan told

Governor Fashola Raises Alarm As Fraudsters Hack Into His Email And Phone

Governor Babatunde Raji Fashola of Lagos state has raised alarm that his email and phone has been hacked by some fraudsters who has been going about asking people to deposit money into a particular bank.

Fashola warned unsuspecting members of the public and companies from falling victims to the fraudsters.While speaking yesterday,BRF as he is popularly called disclosed that those who hacked into his phone has been sending all sort of messages to people asking them to pay into an account.

In a post on facebook, fashola said “Dear Lagosians, please ignore an SMS currently in circulation asking you pay money into a Skye Bank account belonging to Agazie Stephen C. for a Crucial State Emergency. It is a hoax. Agazie is not a staff of the Lagos State Government and has no authority whatsoever to collect funds on behalf of the LASG”

We also gathered that the governor is also worried that his phone must have been cloned by some internet fraudsters. Fashola said they have been sending messages to highly placed personalities, including commissioners and special advisers to pay money into a particular account.

It would be recalled that a former governor of Lagos, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu also said unknown persons hacked into his phone with intent to defraud people. He said some of those who called the messages asking them to pay into a bank account called him to confirm but others simply fell for it.

GENTLE jACKS COUSINE IN CAR THEFT

Gist getting to US has it that one Jack David otherwise known as Prada, who is now at large, has been accused of stealing a Nissan Pathfinder car belonging to one up and coming artiste, Charles Graville. Prada, as we reliably gathered, is the nephew of Nollywood actor, Gentle Jack. He is aged 19 years.

As the story goes, Prada reportedly approached Charles as the PR manager of Scintilla. He allegedly offered to work for the singer. After much pressure, he was told given an opportunity to work as Charles' PA. This happened, according to what Charles told THIS BLOG, on Friday, August 3 at the premiere of Last Flight to Abuja held in Lekki, Lagos.

Soon after the premiere and after party, Charles said he drove home with his
manager, a colleague, a radio presenter and Jack. The next day (Saturday), Charles said he dropped Prada and others off at a bus stop and then gave him (Prada) 5,000 Naira to use as transport fare.

On Monday night, August 6, Charles said Prada came to his house on the pretence of leaving his mum's umbrella in his (Charles) car. Charles said he told him he would give the umbrella to his gateman so that Prada would get it the next day since he would be travelling the next day.
Though, Prada agreed, as we gathered, but he reportedly came back that night to plead with Charles to spend the night at his place since it was already late. This, as Charles told us, he agreed to and left him downstairs playing his PS 3 game.

The next day, after waking up at 9am, which was unsual of him as he told us, he found out that Prada was no where to be found. His PS 3, laptop, blackberry phones and his Nissan Pathfinder registered first with MUS 750 AJ, but now using peace ambassador number plate; PEACE 701 were all missing.

Students take over Kaduna Polytechnic, give FG 48-hour ultimatum

Thousands of students of the Kaduna Polytechnic yesterday protested over the seeming intractable stand-off between the Academic Staff Union of Polytechnic (ASUP) branch and the management of the institution, sealing all the entrances to the institution and giving the Federal Government 48 hours to take action on the issue.

Staff and management of the institution were barred by the students from entering the school premises as the students insisted that the school remain locked up until the Federal Government intervenes by calling off the strike and ordering ASUP to resume academic activities.
Some of the students came with mattresses to the gate of the institution to sleep, indicating that they would not open it for any worker or the management until the problem is resolved, threatening to “wage war” if the government does not intervene.

Officers of the State Security Service (SSS) who came to address the issue were denied access to the school while those who gained access were not given audience because the students referred to them as bankers and not SSS. “If truly they are SSS operatives, let them address us before the media,” the students said. Also during the protest, the students lamented that the Federal Government had neglected them, adding that if it had intervened from the beginning of the crisis, it wouldn’t have lingered on.

“Is the management bigger than the Federal Government? Is ASUP bigger than the Federal Government? So if the Federal Government believes in the transformation they have been talking about, let them intervene with immediate effect, else, there will be war in Kaduna Polytechnic, Kaduna State and Nigeria,” they said. Placards with different inscriptions which include: “When two elephants fight, the grass suffers”, “Enough is enough, we want the school opened”, “President Jonathan should prevail on management and union to make peace for the best interest, else...”, “The idle mind is the devil’s workshop,” were displayed by the students who kept shouting, “We want the school opened, we are tired of staying at home.”

Speaking on behalf of the students, the Vice President, Students Union Government (SUG) of the College of Science and Technology (CST) in the polytechnic, Comrade Ibrahim Omotosho, said the management and ASUP were playing with their future.

According to him, over 45,000 students of the institution have been on strike for about six months now, and many of the students died in the post-election crisis while some could not go for their national youth service due to the strike.

“We have refused to engage in any form of riot or protest since the crisis started in January because we know our school is located in a volatile area, so that some people outside the school will not hijack the situation and take it as an opportunity to cause chaos in the state and that was why we called on the students to maintain absolute decorum but now our silence has been taken for granted,” he stressed.

According to him, they had met with several authorities including Kaduna State SSS, Kaduna State Commissioner of Police, management of the polytechnic and ASUP.

“We told them we are not going back on our action until they resume work”, he said. He added that they were told that without the white paper, they cannot resume academic activities.

“We don’t know why government is delaying the white paper, we have given them a 48-hour ultimatum after which we will block not only the entrances but all roads that lead to Kaduna Polytechnic because we have exercised enough patience,” he said.

He appealed to President Goodlusck Jonathan to start the transformation he promised from Kaduna Polytechnic by ordering ASUP and the school management to come to a consensus and go back to work with immediate effect.

Addressing the students outside the school gate, the Executive Secretary of the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) Alhaji Masud Adamu Kazaure accompanied by the Director, Academic Planning, Kaduna Polytechnic, Ambassador M.J. Mohammed, commended the students for their patience and urged them to continue to be patient.

He said he had spoken with the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Education, saying he promised to get across to him before the end of yesterday.

He assured the students that something would be done before the end of yesterday.

Varsities, polys get N95bn intervention fund

Federal Government through the Tertiary Education Trust Fund has earmarked N95bn for intervention in universities, polytechnics and colleges of education.
Out of this figure, N70bn is the TETFund’s annual allocation to institutions, while the remaining N25bn is for the Special High Impact project in tertiary institutions across Nigeria.

Minister of Education, Prof. Ruqayyatu Rufa’i, said this in Abuja on Tuesday at the TETFund annual strategic planning workshop with federal and state beneficiary institutions.

She said the allocation had increased by 46.33 per cent for universities, 44.17 per cent for polytechnics and 72.11 per cent for colleges of education compared to last year.

The minister warned against misapplication of the fund, stressing government’s zero tolerance for corruption.

According to the breakdown, each beneficiary university will receive N598m; each polytechnic N339.5m; and college of education, N321m.

She urged the institutions to apply the fund to teaching and learning as well as research and scholarly publications.

Rufa’i said, “Over the last couple of decades, the right priorities in education were not addressed. Our institutions continue to grapple with enormous expenditure outside their core mandates.

“To restore the vibrancy of our institutions and to achieve the desired outcomes, we must get our priorities right and manage our institutions transparently.

“The onus is now squarely on the institutions to apply the fund in core areas of their mandates. Our institutions can no longer complain that their major problem is funding. Government is doing its uttermost within available resources and we shall continue to work hard to ensure that there is value for money.”

On the TETFund special high impact introduced in 2009, the minister said the intention was to upgrade the infrastructural and instructional facilities in the institutions of higher learning to encourage the training of high level manpower for the nation.

Rufa’i said the N25bn allocated to the programme, was for intervention in 12 institutions across the country, with each zone having a university, polytechnic or college of education.

According to the breakdown, each university will get N3bn, with college of education and polytechnic N1bn each.

Executive Secretary of TETFund, Prof. Mahmoud Yakubu, called for proper planning for quality education in the country.

He said the increase in allocation to the institutions this year was as a result of improved Education Tax collection by the Federal Inland Revenue Service.

Juan Mata and Oriol Romeu return to Cobham

Juan Mata and Oriol Romeu return to Cobham today as we take a step closer to a full complement of players.

The only player now on international duty is Oscar, the new signing still with the Brazilian Olympic squad, but Roberto Di Matteo will be boosted by the return of his two Spanish Olympians, who were eliminated at the group stage last week, with Daniel Sturridge and Ryan Bertrand also on their way back from London 2012.

Mata was last season's Player of the Year, the first Chelsea man to win the award in his first year at the club since Ruud Gullit in 1996, scoring 12 times in 54 appearances. With recent additions Marko Marin and Eden Hazard also being attacking midfielders, Mata will be keen to make an impact and secure his position in Di Matteo's plans ahead of this weekend's Community Shield.

Romeu played 24 times in our colours last season after signing from Barcelona, and impressed with his calmness in possession and ability to intercept opposition passes.

We will be hearing from both players on their summers over the course of the week.

Senate warns members against aviation minister’s tour

The Senate on Sunday said any Senator that tavels with the Minister of Aviation, Mrs. Stella Oduah, on her proposed three-nation tour would not be representing the upper arm of the National Assembly.

The Chairman of the Senate Committee on Information and Media, Senator Eyinnaya Abaribe, made this known in an exclusive interview with one of our correspondents in Abuja on Sunday.

“If any senator is there, he is there on his own and he cannot commit the Senate in that respect,” Abaribe said.

The aviation minister, our correspondents learnt, was said to be planning a foreign investment road show to China, the United States and Canada.

In the minister’s entourage to study airspace policies of the three countries are said to be three Senators.

The three Senators had reportedly accepted the offer, which was said to have been rejected by the House of Representatives.

Special Adviser to the minister, Mr. Joe Obi, on Sunday confirmed the trip, saying that there was nothing malicious about it.

He said, “It is not a trip for leisure at all; it is a working tour. We decided to invite members of the committees in the two chambers because they are critical stakeholders whose experience and input could help our investment drive.

“The lawmakers have always been part of our programmes. They participated in our recent conference on aviation development in Africa. We need to carry them along so that if we come back to Nigeria, they will be in the full picture of the investments we have attracted and assist us with the appropriate legal framework.”

But commenting on the proposed trip, Abaribe said the Senate had not accepted any invitation from the Ministry because its members were currently on break.

“The Senate, you know, is on break and we have not considered any invitation for our committee members to attend the road show. Since we are on break, there is no way we will be participating. The Senate will have to give its approval for such participation,” he said.

Abaribe’s reactions came on the heels of warnings by opposition parties and civil rights groups that the involvement of the National Assembly members in the trip would compromise probes into the Dana Airline crash and the aviation sector.

The Senate had probed the breach of aviation laws by foreign airlines, while the joint committee of the National Assembly investigated the Dana plane crash.

Faulting the lawmakers’ involvement in the road show, the Congress for Progressive Change said that it was a veritable way of compromising the legislature.

“We have seen in the Herman Hembe/ Arunma Oteh saga that the Executive’s overture of gratification is a veritable way of compromising the legislature,” the CPC National Publicity Secretary, Mr. Rotimi Fashakin, said.

He noted that the minister was under probe on the account of preventable air accidents in the country.

The National Chairman, Action Congress of Nigeria, Chief Bisi Akande, also described the proposed tour as a jamboree.

Reacting through his spokesperson, Mr. Lani Baderinwa, on Sunday, Akande said the participation of the Senators in the tour showed their insensitivity to the plight of Nigerians.

He said, “The tour is a waste of public funds; it shows lack of care for public feeling. It is bad enough that so much of taxpayers’ money will go down the drain in the bid to go for a road show.

“Sadly, the road show is to see airports. Why can’t we rehabilitate our own airports here? The Federal Government always gets it wrong because selfishness and corruption form the basis of its decisions.

“It is a pity that the Federal Government cannot even wait for the burial of all those who died as a result of its carelessness in the Dana Air Plane crash before embarking on this jamboree.”

Also, the Campaign for Democracy President, Joe Okei-Odumakin, said, “That the aviation minister is talking of road show for legislators in the midst of insolvency in the country is evident these people don’t give a damn.”

But the minister, in a statement on Sunday, in Abuja by her spokesperson defended the road show.

According to her, the trip is to woo foreign investors “to key into the transformation and infrastructural development of the aviation sector in Nigeria.”

She said that the road show was coming on the heels of the one held in Abuja, for local investors.

She said, “The huge capital outlay required to carry out any significant transformation of the sector cannot be funded from statutory appropriations alone, hence the need to woo both local and foreign investors to make up the deficit.

“Investors would particularly be wooed to key into the development of the proposed four new international airports in Lagos, Abuja, Port Harcourt and Kano as well as the development of aerotropolis around the major airports across the country.

“The proposed aerotropolis model holds immense benefits for Nigeria, the citizenry and the economy as it would promote regional transformation and economic growth, open up other sectors to reduce over-reliance on oil revenues, promote culture and tourism, enhance safety and drive the rapid transformation of the industry as a whole.”

Bayelsa Assembly battles with N78m S’Africa trip scam

Speaker of Bayelsa State House of Assembly, Mr. Kombowei Benson, and 23 other members of the assembly are battling with the allegation that they mismanaged N78m belonging to the state under false pretences that they attended a conference in South Africa.

The allegation was first made public through a petition addressed to the Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Abubakar, by a civil society group, Transparency and Good Governance Coalition.

Benson and other lawmakers were said to have written to Governor Seriake Dickson, demanding the money to attend the 43rd Commonwealth Parliamentary Association in South Africa from June 29 to July 8.

Dickson was said to have approved the money on June 28 on condition that it must be used for the conference.

The civil society group, in the petition obtained by our correspondent, alleged that the Speaker collected the money and disbursed it to all the members.

The petition read in part, “Unknown to Bayelsans, the Speaker and other members of the Bayelsa House of Assembly allegedly never attended the conference but simply allegedly converted the fund given to them to their personal use.

“While the conference which started on the 29th of June was underway, the Speaker and members of the Assembly were reportedly and allegedly engaged in a frolic of their own in Nigeria until the 7th of July 2012.”

It was also alleged that the Speaker and the other legislators left the country for South Africa on July 7, got to South Africa in the morning of July 8 without attending the conference.

The group, in the petition signed by its Coordinator, Mr. U.F. Mohammed, said the lawmakers after returning to the country, claimed that the conference was successful and that they were better equipped to perform their functions.

The group appealed to the IG to investigate the allegation and ensure that the legislators were brought to book, recalling that a member of the House of Representatives, Mr. Herman Hembe, is facing trial at an Abuja High Court for a similar offence.

However, our correspondent learnt that only a few lawmakers attended the conference.

While some of them that could not attend the programme refunded their money, others were said to have pocketed theirs.

The source, who pleaded anonymity said, “Most of them collected the money but failed to attend the programme. They simply ended up travelling to South Africa on the day the conference was scheduled to end. Only three of them, attended the conference.

“The former acting governor of the state did not collect the money because initially he said he was not interested. The former Deputy Speaker, collected the money but refunded it when he realised that he could not meet up”.

Spokesman for the Speaker, Mr. Piriye Jonathan, said those who made the allegation “were ignorant”.

He said Benson had keyed into the transparency of the state government and would not support any act of corruption.

“I was on the team that attended that conference. There was a conference and we attended,” he said.