StringJazz

Yenagoa – Baring any last minute intervention by the Bayelsa Government and security agencies in the state, two factions of Ohaneze Ndigbo may clash during the ongoing celebration of Igbo cultural day in Yenagoa.

Already, security has been beefed up at the Ox-bow lake pavilion, venue of the celebration, due to the crisis that engulfed the pan Igbo cultural group in the state.

Chief Mark Nkem is recognized by the national leadership as the caretaker chairman of the group, while the Special Assistant to Bayelsa Governor on Non Indigenes, Mr Okwudiri Chukwu Okoh, is also leading another faction.

Traditional rulers at Igbo summit [photos Nath onojake]

Addressing newsmen in Yenagoa, the chairman, Igwe-In-Council for Ohaneze Ndigbo in Bayelsa, Chief Ernest Uzoefuna, said the national leadership had directed that this year’s celebration be put on hold till after the body’s election where conflicting issues would be settled.

He said they were surprised to hear that Chukwu Okoh’s led faction had gone ahead to fix Igbo Day for Saturday, after the national body had met with both factions earlier in the week.

The situation, he said, could degenerate into crisis when the two factions met.

According to him, “Article 37 of Ohaneze Ndigbo constitution states that when there is crisis, Igbo day should be put on hold till that crisis is resolved.

“The constitution is very explicit, no person should be allowed to use his personal interest to cause problem between Igbo people in Bayelsa,” he said.

He said that the national leadership of Ohaneze had already written to the state government, and the security agencies in the state on the implication of allowing the celebration to hold.

Also, the vice president of Ohaneze Youth Wing in Bayelsa, Mr Uchenna Okoro, and the secretary, Mr Nwosu Chukwuemeka, pleaded with the state government and security operatives to put the celebration on hold, to forstall any breakdown of law.

The special assistant to Bayelsa State governor on non indigenes, Mr Okwudiri Okoh, dismissed the allegation, saying the Igbo cultural day was one of the ways to unite Igbo people living in Bayelsa.

He disclosed that the day was not organized under the platform of Ohaneze Ndigbo, but the Igbo community in the state.(NAN)

By EKAETTE BASSEY

Budding Nollywood actress, Olive Utalor adds another year, today, October 28, 2018 and she would be celebrating it like most Nollywood divas do with release of beautiful pictures.

Olive Utalor

As expected, she would be expecting gifts from friends and well wishers but, according to her, there’s a gift that would be priceless to her.

“Absolutely there’s no lady without someone special in their life and that leads me to say I truly have a boyfriend,” she said in a chat with Potpourri.

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“He is such a cool dude, very articulate and strict, handsome, benevolent   with a God-fearing heart.

Sincerely,   I would expect him to give me a reliable assurance   on my birthday as a gift. Simply because I need a brand new exclusive car. Just for the nature of my job,mind you, it doesn’t mean I am a materialistic woman, it’s good you speak your mind always. .And it would be the greatest gift I would have on my birthday,” she added.

NFVCB mourns Nollywood producer Chris Ekejimbe

Olive Utalor has featured in films like Wasted Authority, Ulaku, Battle of True Love and many others.

He made the disclosure in Ibadan on Saturday during the 9th Public Lecture of Sigma Club at the International Conference Centre, University of Ibadan.

The News Agency of Nigeria(NAN) reports that Osinbajo delivered a lecture entitled ‘Developing the Nation Through Youth Empowerment.’

“In 2010 our debt was $35 billion, $41 billion in 2011, $48 billion in 2012, $64 billion in 2013, $67.7 billion in 2014, $63.8 billion in 2015, $57.8 billion in 2016, $70 billion in 2017 and $73 billion in 2018.

“The nation’s debt as at today was $73 bilłion, an increment of $10 billion from the $63 billion inherited in 2015,” he said.

Osinbajo revealed that from oil, the nation earned $119.8 billion from 1990 to 1998, $481 billion from 1999 to 2009 and $381 billion from 2010 to 2014, while present administration has only earned $112 billion from June 2015.

“The earnings from oil from 2010 to 2014 were the highest recorded in the history of the country. This is a period when the price of oil per barrel sold from $100 to $114.

He said that the most important drain on the nation’s public purse was grand corruption, saying the nation would earn more revenue if such was addressed.

“In a 2015 transaction met by this administration, a sum of $67 million was made without a purpose for it. So also is another $292 million,” he said.

The Vice President also listed lack of commitment to diversification of the economy as one of the problems which affected the economy.

On restructuring, Osinbajo said that some of those clamouring for it were those who opposed their efforts on restructuring years back when they were in government.

“Let me explain my position clearly. I am not just an advocate of restructuring, there is no other government in Nigeria that has actively pursued restructuring such as we did when I was Attorney General in Lagos State.

“People talking about restructuring, if you ask them what they meant by restructuring? They won’t even know what it means and that is the problem we have to face,” he said.

The vice president narrated how he pursued issues of restructuring to the Supreme Court when he was the Attorney General in Lagos State.

According to him, “We started with fiscal restructuring, which is more of resource control. Should states control their own resources? We went to the Supreme Court. They argued that each state should control its own resources.”

“The states that argued in favour of autonomy for states to control their resources were the oil producing states in the country and Lagos State, while some others argued on the other side because they want to share oil money.

“We lost at the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court said no, that you cannot control your resources. If you are an oil producing state, take 13 per cent extra, which is derivation.”

He said that Lagos State further argued that it had ports and the ports served the entire nation, so the state should also take 13 per cent derivation which the Supreme Court objected.

Osinbajo said that further argument led to the introduction of onshore and offshore law, which enabled the state to share from onshore resources.

“All this time, this was 2000, some of those people, including the presidential candidate of PDP, who is talking about restructuring, was the vice president then.

“They opposed every step we took. Of course, we were taking the Federal Government to court then. They opposed every step.

“The next thing we did was that the states should be able to create their own local governments, which is autonomy of states.

“So, we created 37 new local governments in Lagos. The president then, Chief Obasanjo, seized our local government funds and said we could not create new local governments,” he said.

He also narrated how they challenged the seizure at the Supreme Court and the court ruled in their favour.

“If you ask those people now talking about restructuring, none of them has done anything compared to what we have done. So, I am not a latter day convert to restructuring.

“I am an active practitioner of restructuring, and I have gone to the Supreme Court 12 times to test restructuring,” Osinbajo added.

US investigators have arrested a suspect in Florida in connection with 12 suspicious packages and pipe bombs sent to critics of Donald Trump in a days-long spree that has inflamed the United States ahead of key midterm elections.

The Republican commander-in-chief congratulated law enforcement Friday for what he called an “incredible, incredible job” as US media identified the suspect as Cesar Sayoc, a 56-year-old man with a criminal history.

“These terrorizing acts are despicable and have no place in our country,” Trump told an event at the White House, confirming a suspect had been apprehended following an FBI-led nationwide manhunt mobilizing hundreds of agents.

“But the bottom line is Americans must unify and we must show the world that we are united together in peace and love and harmony as fellow American citizens,” the president added.

The Department of Justice was to hold a news conference on the case at 2:30 pm (1830 GMT).

In southern Florida, FBI agents and police swarmed the area around a strip mall in Plantation, where an AFP photographer saw a van covered in blue tarpaulin loaded onto a truck by authorities and being driven away.

Pictures broadcast on television showed the van plastered with pro-Trump stickers.

Much of the investigation had homed in on Florida in the last 24 hours, where officials reportedly believed that at least some of the packages had been sent. Media described Sayoc as living in Aventura, Florida while also having ties to New York.

Since Monday homemade bombs and other suspected explosive devices have been addressed to Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Hollywood megastar Robert De Niro and a litany of figures loathed by the US president’s supporters.

Trump under fire

On Friday, an 11th package addressed to Cory Booker, a New Jersey senator often touted as a Democratic presidential hope, was intercepted in Florida, the FBI confirmed.

A 12th package, identified by police as a pipe bomb, was found at a US Post Office in Manhattan and removed by the bomb squad, New York police said.

James Clapper, among a string of former intelligence chiefs critical of Trump, was the addressee of the 12th package, sent care of CNN.

On Wednesday, the news network evacuated its New York bureau after a similar package was found in the mail room addressed to another frequent CNN guest, former CIA director John Brennan.

Trump earlier came under fire for his response to the spree, which politicians on all sides have branded domestic terrorism with devices intercepted in New York, Maryland, Florida, Delaware and Los Angeles.

On Friday, shortly before news of the arrest broke, he complained that the packages were slowing momentum for his Republican Party ahead of the November 6 elections, remarks bound to enrage his opponents.

“Republicans are doing so well in early voting, and at the polls, and now this ‘Bomb’ stuff happens and the momentum greatly slows — news not talking politics,” Trump tweeted.

“Very unfortunate, what is going on. Republicans, go out and vote!”

Trump was also criticized for tempering calls for unity in the wake of the attacks, by lashing out at the press for stirring up “anger.”

He recently endorsed the body-slamming of a reporter, routinely denounces the press as “fake news” and has leveled toxic remarks in the past against the pipe bomb targets.

‘They were dangerous’

Despite little information on whether the man in custody is suspected of working in cahoots with others, New York’s state Democratic Governor Andrew Cuomo disputed speculation that the devices were not rigged to explode.

“No one can say there were fake bombs, they were dangerous,” he told CNN. “There may be questions about the levels of sophistication.”

Double Oscar winner and biting Trump critic De Niro on Friday urged people to vote the midterms, one day after a device was discovered at the Manhattan offices of his production company.

“I thank God no one’s been hurt, and I thank the brave and resourceful security and law enforcement people for protecting us,” he said. “There’s something more powerful than bombs, and that’s your vote. People MUST vote!”

“This is definitely domestic terrorism,” Clapper told CNN Friday, hitting out at Trump saying he bore “some responsibility of civility in this country. He needs to remember that his words count.”

The packages were sent in manila envelopes with bubble wrap, marked with computer-printed address labels. Each listed Debbie Wasserman Schultz, former chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee, as the sender, including misspellings of her last name, the FBI said.

Wasserman Schultz told reporters in southern Florida that it had “devastating” and “deeply disturbing” to have had her name used.

“I’ve been told by the FBI that this is their highest priority and they’re on top of it,” she said.

Davido and Aloma

In his deleted post on Instagram, Aloma who seems to be involved in technical works claims Tiwa Savage's role in the video sets a bad precedent in the Nigerian society as it encourages young men to go after older ladies.

He made his views while making comparisons between Davido's 'Assurance' music video and Wizkid's 'Fever' video.

Excerpts from his post read:

"Davido assurance vs Wizkid fever

Why on earth will you compare this video? fact you don't know:

1. Davio found his heart desir but Tiwa found her OWN heart desire.

2. Chi (Chioma, Davido's girlfriend) is single while Mum Jamjam (Tiwa Savage) is divorced.

3. You learn good vibes from Dav (Davido) and Chi but in other ways you learn how to run after someone's wife or little boy." 

Aloma closed with a message sympathising with the Savage's embattled husband, Teebillz, who is holed up in the United States of America.

Teebillz hasn't uttered a word since the romantic video surfaced. The young man has earlier vouched for Tiwa Savage when rumours emerged that Wizkid was involved in a romantic affair with the songstress.

There are concerns that Aloma's views could intensify the age-long rivalry between Davido and Wizkid which was however publicly settled last year December.