Wednesday, November 21, 2012

President Goodluck Jonathan's brother dies at age 45

It was a sombre birthday celebration for President Goodluck Jonathan tuesday as the death of his younger brother, Meni, dampened the commemoration of the president's 55th birthday.

Meni, who was the head of the Otueke Council of Chiefs, died at the National Hospital, Abuja. He was 45 years old.

Until his death, he was a businessman and owned some fuel filling stations in their home state of Bayelsa.

Investigations revealed that Meni had been terminally ill for over a year before he passed on Tuesday.

When THISDAY visited his home in Otuoke, sympathisers, mostly women, were seen consoling his daughter, Vivian.

Meni's two wives and the eldest of his 12 children were said to have left for Abuja following the announcement of his death.

It was gathered that Jonathan decided to evacuate Meni to Abuja on Saturday for proper medical treatment when he noticed that his health had deteriorated.

The president was in Otuoke on a strictly private visit, which included the dedication of the Mission House of the church building donated by Gitto Construction Company when his brother's condition was brought to his attention.

THISDAY gathered that the recent flooding, which had forced the people of Otuoke to flee their homes, may have aggravated the poor health of Meni, who reportedly refused to leave his home, the ground floor of which was overran by the rampaging flood.

When THISDAY visited Meni's home yesterday, some of his personal effects destroyed by the flood, such as furniture, still littered the compound, while the living room was bare.

At the palace of the royal father of the community, THISDAY was told that the traditional ruler would not speak on the death until he was officially informed.

However, the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Dr. Reuben Abati, confirmed the death in a statement issued tuesday.

"President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan announces with sadness the death earlier today (yesterday) of his younger brother, Chief Meni Innocent Jonathan.

"Chief Meni Jonathan passed away at the National Hospital, Abuja after a brief illness. "Formal burial arrangements will be announced later by the family," the statement said.

Hours before the official statement was issued, a source told THISDAY that the president, in company with Vice-President Namadi Sambo and the Chief of Staff to the President, Chief Mike Oghiadomhe, had visited the National Hospital when he received information about his brother's demise.

In a message yesterday, Senate President David Mark commiserated with Jonathan and Bayelsa State Government and its people over the death of Meni.

In a statement by his media aide, Mr. Kola Ologbodiyan, Mark urged the president and his family to take solace in the fact that Meni lived an exemplary life of discipline, decency and forthrightness, worthy of emulation.

"I share in this grief and pain. I pray God in His infinite mercies grants you the fortitude to bear this irreparable loss," he said.

Also reacting to news of the president's brother's death, the Bayelsa State Governor, Hon. Henry Seriake Dickson, sent a message of condolence to the president.

He led a delegation of senior citizens of the state to the presidential villa, Abuja, where he offered prayers for the deceased whom he described as a "fine gentleman and proud Bayelsan at heart, owing to his commitment and dedication to the development of not just his community but Bayelsa State as a whole."

Dickson also prayed that God should grant the president and his family the fortitude to bear the irreparable loss.

Tuesday, November 20, 2012

Nigerian gospel artist steals £120,000 from women he met on dating site

A Nigerian gospel singer, Oluwamayowa Ajayi, who fleeced four American women he met on the internet dating site, Match.com, of over £120,000 was jailed for six and a half years on Friday evening at Snakesbrook Crown Court in East London.

Ajayi, 31, who is an overstayer in Britain, looked blank and showed no outward emotions as he was handed the sentence. As if resigned to fate, he walked sheepishly behind one of the two female security guards who led him out of Courtroom 20, where his fate was sealed.

About a minute earlier, Judge Sarah Paneth told him, “I’m sentencing you to six and a half years. You may now go down - a technical term for jail. “

Ajayi, who performs under the stage name, “Malo Joe“ pretended to be an American fighter pilot, a grieving widower and an oil executive to the women he fleeced before the long arms of the law caught up with him.

Prior to his sentencing that evening, both the crown prosecutor and his defence counsel spent close to two hours making last minute submissions to the Judge.

While the crown prosecutor summed up his argument stating how Ajayi lived off the women by lying - among others, in one instance - that he had been held hostage by Niger Delta militants and therefore, his captors needed some ransom before he could be released, otherwise, they would kill him, his defence lawyer, John Femi - Ola pleaded with the court: “don’t crush him so that he can have the opportunity to do something useful with his life,” after his term. Femi-Ola also told the Judge that “this is his first time.”

Despite the pleas for mercy, it was inevitable that he would be caged. After listening to the pleas from both sides, the Judge took a 20 minute break at 3.40p.m. and when the court re-convened at 4.00p.m., she took about 40 minutes to read her sentencing notes, detailing the seven- count charge that Ajayi had been found guilty of by the jury who had found him guilty four days earlier.

In one instance, he tricked and lied to one of his victims who parted with over $100,000, that he was a businessman who was short of cash and therefore, needed a loan. The woman used some of the money on her credit card and also borrowed from family members to raise the funds.

In another, Ajayi claimed he was in the hands of Niger Delta militants and they would kill him within 20 hours if the woman didn’t do anything about the ransom they asked her to pay. She hurriedly sent $500 through Moneygram to Nigeria, where he then cashed the money.

According to the Judge, “all the four women were embarrassed” when each discovered they were dealing with a con man and not someone who loved them and was in a relationship. Of course, none knew about the other until detectives contacted them after his arrest.

The Judge told him,” you defrauded women of the sums the women cannot afford to lose.”

Ajayi, the Judge noted, would have continued preying on more innocent women had the arms of the law not caught up with him. As the Judge read her notes, his well wishers, numbering about seven, gasped and he looked resigned to his imminent fate before the curtain fell on his fraudulent life at 4.40p.m., when the judge told him, “I’m sentencing you to six and a half years. You may now go down.” The court guards wasted no time in sandwiching him between themselves as they led him out of the courtroom.

Although it’s not certain if he will be deported after his term, but Ajayi, who initially came to the United Kingdom (UK) on a six month visa in 2004, overstayed. He then left and on his return to the UK, falsely obtained a driver’s licence using the name of a Portuguese man who had died in 2004. This, the Judge noted, showed that the gospel singer was a chief in the criminal operation for which he was being jailed.

Guardian

Related stories: Nigerian couple in UK prison for fraud

Monday, November 19, 2012

Nigerian artists win big at Channel O awards

Thirteen Nigerian acts walked into the Walter Sisulu Square in Kliptown, Soweto, SA, venue of the 2012 Channel O Music Video Awards with their heads held high; hours later, six of them emerged as winners.
D'banj cut the tape with the 'Most Gifted Male Video of the Year' award and also the 'Special Recognition' award which he missed last year as he had not been able to attend.
Pop giants Psquare won the 'Most Gifted Group/Duo' award for their collaboration with May D on the hit single 'Chop my money,' while highlife crooner Flavour won the 'Most Gifted R&B Music Video of the year' award for his collaboration with Tiwa Savage on 'Oyi' remix.
The awards however came with shockers for singing sensation Wizkid who fell in the Most Gifted African West Video category where his hit single Pakurumo had been nominated.
2Face, Naeto C and Mo'Cheddah also fell at their own nominations; Most Gifted R&B Video, Most Gifted African West Video and Most Gifted Female Video for songs Be there, I Gentle and See me respectively.
However, Chocolate City act BrymO, won the 'Most Gifted Pop' for his hit song 'Ara' and the award show's co-host Ice Prince, won the award for 'Most Gifted Hip Hop Video of the Year.'
New hit wonder; Davido also walked away with the 'Most Gifted New Comer of the Year' award, beating Kenya's Camp Mulla and Ghana's E.L, among others.
See the full winners list below...
Most Gifted African South Video of the Year
Cashtime Fam - Shut it down (Stundee)
Most Gifted Group or Featuring of the year
Psquare ft. May D & Akon - Chop My Money
Most Gifted Reggae Dance/Hall
Buffalo Souljah ft Cabo Snoop - Styra Inonyengesa
Most Gifted African East
AY feat Sauti Soul - I Don't Want to Be Alone
Most Gifted kwaito
Ees feat Mandoza - Ayoba
Most Gifted African West Music video
D-Black ft Mo'Cheddah - Falling
Most Gifted R&B Music Video of the year
Flavour ft. Tiwa Savage - Oyi [Remix]
Most Gifted AfroPop
BrymO - ARA
Most Gifted Hip Hop Video of the Year
Ice Prince Zamani- Superstar
Most Gifted Dance Music Video of the Year
DJ Cleo - Facebook
Most Gifted New Comer of the Year
Davido - Dami duro
Most Gifted Female Video of the Year
Zahara - Loliwe
Most Gifted Male Video of the Year
D'Banj - Oliver Twist
2012 Special Recognition award recipient

300 Nigerians deported from Botswana

About 300 Nigerians living in the Republic of Botswana have been deported back to Nigeria by the Lieutenant General Seretse Khama Ian Khama administration in the past few months following refusal of the authorities to renew their permits.

Perturbed by their plight, the deportees have called on President Goodluck Jonathan and the National Assembly to quickly look into the relationship between Bostwana and Nigeria in order to ascertain the true conditions of Nigerians living in that country.

The deportees, who said most of them had lived and worked in that Southern African country alleged that since General Khama, whose mother was of British origin and father a Motswana assumed office, Nigerians in that country had been subjected to dehumanising conditions and racial abuse even when they claimed they had been law-abiding and of good behavior.

Narrating their ordeal, Mr. Kingsley Ndubuisi from Anambra State, who returned to the country without his belongings in September, this year, alleged that all Nigerians whose permits expired were forcefully, deported leaving their property, wives and children behind.

"The most annoying of all the troubles Nigerians are facing in that country is the incessant stamping of (PI), meaning Prohibited Immigrant on the passport of Nigerian nationals by the Bostwana authorities; the implication is that such a person cannot enter Bostwana again,"Ndubuisi said.



Video - Conditions desperate for Nigerians displaced by violence



Violence that followed elections in northern Nigeria last year forced thousands of people to flee their homes. That was 18 months ago. But in Kaduna city, hundreds of people are still living in a camp in desperate conditions.