The singer shared this post on her facebook recently and she wrote thus as its caption:
“Happy Anniversary to the love of my life @therealswizzz !!! And to make it even sweeter we’ve been blessed with another angel on the way!!! You make me happier than I have ever known! Here’s to many many more years of the best parts of life!!!”
Posted By Valentino Godwin
PO! is a satire that deals with the happenings in the country i.e., the good, the bad and the ugly. All these experiences are presented in a more humorous pattern.
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Posted By Valentino Godwin
GAZA CITY, Bloodshed in war-torn Gaza surged on Tuesday with dozens more Palestinians killed as the conflict raged into a fourth week and Iran accused Israel of genocide in the tiny enclave.
Following two nights without air strikes, the violence returned to Gaza’s skies overnight, with Israeli warplanes pounding 60 targets, among them the strip’s main power station and the house of a top Hamas official.
By the time dawn broke on the second day of the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr, at least 24 people had been killed, among them nine women and four children, medics said, as the conflict, now in its 22nd day, showed no sign of letting up.
With the Palestinian death toll passing the 1,100 mark, Iran’s supreme leader accused Israel of committing “genocide in Gaza, and demanding the Islamic world arm those Palestinians involved in fighting the Jewish state.
In a speech Tuesday marking the Eid festival, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Israel was acting like a “rabid dog” and “a wild wolf” and causing a human catastrophe in Gaza, where people should be helped to defend itself.
“The world and especially the Islamic world should arm … the Palestinian people,” he said.
Following a relatively quiet weekend, the violence surged again on Monday, drawing increasingly urgent international demands for an end to the fighting
“In the name of humanity, the violence must stop,” pleaded UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.
But the calls appeared to be falling on deaf ears, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warning Monday it would be “a lengthy campaign” that would not end before troops destroyed cross-border tunnels used for staging attacks on southern Israel.
“Israeli citizens cannot live with the threat from rockets and from death tunnels — death from above and from below,” he said.
– New Gaza exodus –
On the ground, hundreds of Palestinians could be seen leaving their homes after the army warned residents of five areas to flee and take refugee in central Gaza City, an AFP correspondent said.
Many headed for already-cramped UN schools in the north, where children ran barefoot around a dirty school yard alongside stinking piles of rubbish.
“We came yesterday after the army warned us to leave,” said 46-year-old Ghassan Abed who fled from his home in the northern town of Beit Lahiya with his wife and six children.
“About 200 people just from our street have fled,” he said.
UN statistics published Monday showed 215,000 Palestinians had already fled their homes, with 170,461 staying in 82 of the agency’s schools.
Also Tuesday, Israel confirmed another five soldiers had been killed in an ambush by militants on Monday evening after they sneaked into southern Israel by a tunnel.
Their deaths raised to 53 the total number of soldiers killed since the operation began on July 8. Another three civilians have been killed by rocket fire – two Israelis and a Thai national – raising the overall toll on the Israeli side to 56.
On Tuesday, several tank shells struck Gaza’s sole power plant, causing damage and a fire, bringing it grinding to a halt, a senior official with the power authority said.
Another air strike targeted the home of top Hamas leader Ismail Haniya in Gaza City’s Shati refugee camp, officials said.
– A deceptive calm –
Tensions rose sharply on Monday after a shell landed inside the Shifa hospital compound in Gaza City, followed by a blast at a children’s playground in the city’s Shati refugee camp, that killed 10, eight of them children.
Residents in Shati said an F-16 fired several missiles at a motorised rickshaw in a claim denied by the Israeli army, which also said it had not targeted the hospital.
“We have not fired on the hospital or on Shati refugee camp,” Major Arye Shalicar told AFP, saying the army had footage showing militants firing at Israel but the missiles falling short and striking targets inside Gaza.
Shortly afterwards, a mortar killed four soldiers near a kibbutz in southern Israel, the army said, indicating another soldier had been killed in action in southern Gaza.
As the violence soared, top diplomats from Britain, France, Germany, Italy and the United States pledged to “redouble their efforts” and step up the pressure to persuade the sides to accept a truce.
And Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas was expected to visit Cairo with representatives of Hamas and Islamic Jihad, another militant group, for fresh talks with the Egyptians on ending the violence in Gaza, a senior source in Ramallah told AFP, without saying when.
Posted By Valentino Godwin
TRIPOLI (AFP) – A Libyan fighter jet engaged in paramilitary attacks on Islamists in the restive eastern city of Benghazi crashed and exploded Tuesday after its pilot ejected safely, a military source and a witness said.
It was not immediately clear if the plane was shot down or suffered a malfunction, added General Sagr al-Jerouchi, chief of air operations for dissident general Khalifa Haftar.
A witness, who said he saw a parachute open before the crash, added that the warplane had just attacked Islamist positions.
Weekend fighting in Benghazi, cradle of the 2011 revolution that ousted dictator Moamer Kadhafi, killed dozens of people, mostly soldiers.
Combat erupted Saturday when Islamists attacked the headquarters of a special forces unit near the city centre. One of the few regular army units located in Benghazi, it backs an anti-Islamist campaign launched by Haftar in May but has not placed itself under his command.
Since May, clashes have taken place in Benghazi on an almost daily basis.
Posted By Valentino Godwin
NIGERIAN politicians and their apologists prefer to describe the country’s democratic evolution as nascent. In their view, it is inappropriate for anyone to upbraid its many ugly sides or describe it as a sham compared to its American model.
They would tell anyone who cares to listen that there is no basis for comparison as the Yankee version is centuries older. Sadly however, they always fail to remind themselves that our inability to apply intelligence is the only missing link.
Thus, while they want the rest of us to wait for centuries to experience true democracy by telling us that democratic practise in the US is devoid of the hiccups and pitfalls that appear peculiar to us because of its age, none of them will wait for more than one month to acquire status-enhancing, technology-laden cars or gadgets.
Unfortunately, the nascent theorists have extended the attitude to the application of legality to checkmate deliberate action meant to frustrate the country’s democratic process just as those who ought to know better are raising the trumpet in salutation.
If the trend is a major staple in the menu of the opposition PDP in Edo State, its national arm is perfecting it as a sure-fire weapon designed to conquer the entire Nigerian space, come 2015.
It was manifest in the debacle in Rivers, same as in the current bizarre circus in Edo and very prominent in the brazen battering of the democratic process both in Adamawa and Nasarawa states where the world is waiting to see how the judiciary will save itself, to begin with.
The design began to take effect in Edo State in the wake of the defection saga involving some members of the state assembly. In a bid to checkmate possible reprisal actions from their majority APC colleagues, the defectors sought legal refuge by asking a Federal High Court to forestall any attempt by the house leadership to either declare their seats vacant or put them on suspension.
In its wisdom, the court agreed that the house cannot declare their seats vacant. It however, ruled that it could not grant the second relief as doing so would amount to infringing on the internal affairs of the assembly which has every legal right to deal with, including suspending erring members.
Four days later and unarguably in the expression of the said right, the house suspended the defectors on grounds of gross misconduct. However, they refused to heed the suspension order, prompting the assembly leadership to rush back to the court for help.
Help came for the assembly leadership when the court barred the defectors, the police command and AIG Zone 5 from entering the assembly complex. Flagrantly, they did not only ignore the order, they have turned the assembly complex into a circus centre, incurring and ignoring court contempt in tow. The chaos resulting from the affected law makers’ action has since turned into a growing monster.
In attempting to whitewash an open breach of court order, the estranged law makers went to an Appeal Court to ask for, among other reliefs, a stay of execution of the suspension order made by the High Court. But the relief suffered a blow as the court dismissed it, insisting that they must first obey both the orders mandating them to respect the supension issued them by the house and contempt charge arising from their refusal to do so.
In a ruling delivered by Hon Justice Morounkeji Ogunwunmiju on behalf of the two other justices, the court declared that “the said suspended members could not seek any relief from the Court of Appeal while they were in contempt or disobedience of the Order of the High Court.”
The judge went further to emphasise that a party in contempt of a positive order of court cannot be allowed to seek or obtain any relief from the Court while the contempt persists. In plain language, the court ordered the renegade law makers to go and obey the suspension order and contempt charges.
The ruling, made on Thursday, July 10, 2014, is now a stark reminder of the affected law makers’ attitude to court orders as amply captured in the words of their infernal image, Festus Ebea, former deputy speaker, who while reacting to an attempt by a court bailiff to serve him and others contempt summons riled both the court and everything it represents in vile invectives. Typically, they have continued to glean over their defiance with laughable excuses while being applauded by their party, the PDP.
Still smarting from the impact of the Appeal Court ruling delivered less than 24 hours earlier, the law makers(law breakers if you like) took the matter to the Supreme in the seeming puerile expectation that the apex court will rub mud on its inestimable lower arms, having been subjected to a very odious humiliation.
But even as the flaks from the Appeal Court ruling were still reverberating, news of yet another ruling, this time, from a Federal High Court, presided over by Justice Mohammad A. Liman, hit the waves. Uyi Igbe, speaker of the state house of assembly, Philip Shaibu, Majority Leader and the Edo State House of Assembly, on behalf of themselves and other members, asked the court to restrain the state Commissioner of Police and the AIG Zone 5 from restricting the activities of artisans employed by the house to fix the leaking assembly roof.
They also asked the court to prevail on the suspended law makers “from further purporting to carry out the legislative function of the 3rd plaintiff (house of assembly), including but not limited to purporting to sit or hold plenary sessions wheresoever’s pending the hearing of the Motion on Notice.”
In the judgement, the court restrained the state Police Commissioner and AIG Zone 5 from “preventing or continuing to prevent the plaintiffs, including the workers of the 3rd plaintiff (House of Assembly) from having unrestricted access into the premisses of and their offices at the Edo State House of Assembly…” and “from further preventing the workers engaged by the 3rd plaintiff from continuing with the renovation/repairs of the leaking roof of the Edo State House of Assembly Complex…”.
The question is this: Can any defendant act in place for a plaintiff in the execution of a valid court order given in favour of the latter and in the same matter he/she/it is listed as a co-defendant without undermining the order itself?
However, it refused to grant “an interim injunction restraining the 3rd-11th Defendants (suspended law makers) from further purporting to carry out the legislative functions of the 3rd plaintiff including but not limited to purporting to sit or hold plenary sessions wheresoever’s pending the hearing and determination of the Motion on Notice…” In refusing to grant the relief, Justice Liman explained that it is “…outside the ambit of section 25 1 (q), (r) and (s) of the constitution. It is a matter within the jurisdiction of the state High Court.”
Put differently, the court refused to grant the order because the issue is a matter on which only a state high court can adjudicate. In which case, the plaintiffs are at liberty to seek the relief from the relevant court.
Obviously misinterpreting the ruling, the opposition PDP, suspended law makers and their handlers went to town, celebrating the ruling as an invalidation of earlier rulings.
Yet, a few days after the ruling ordering the police commissioner and AIG, zone 5 to stop forthwith any restriction imposed on either the assembly staff or workers engaged by the law making organ to renovate/repair the complex’s leaking roof, the suspended law makers took over the task of the plaintiffs and hired new workers to work on the affected roof.
The challenge here is that in acting ‘in loco’ for the plaintiff in a ruling that expressly mandates some of their co-defendants not to infer with “workers engaged” (not new set) by one of the 3rd plaintiffs, it would appear that they have turned the order of the court on its head.
The question is this; can any defendant act in place for a plaintiff in the execution of a valid court order given in favour of the latter and in the same matter he/she/it is listed as a co-defendant without undermining the order itself?
ERNEST OMOARELOJIE a public affairs analyst, wrote from Benin City.
Posted By Valentino Godwin
GLASGOW (AFP) – Nigerian teenage weightlifter Chika Amalaha has been provisionally suspended from the Commonwealth Games after testing positive in a doping test taken after she won gold in the women’s 53kg category, the Commonwealth Games Federation announced Tuesday.
The 16-year-old Amalaha provided an ‘A’ sample on July 25 which revealed traces of diuretics and masking agents.
She will have a ‘B’ sample tested at a laboratory in London on July 30.
Commonwealth Games Federation chief executive Mike Hooper said: “We [have] issued a formal notice of disclosure to an athlete following an adverse analytical finding as a consequence of an in-competition test.
“That athlete is Nigerian weightlifter Chika Amalaha who was tested on July 25th. That athlete has now been suspended from the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.”
Amalaha snatched a best of 85kg before managing 111kg in the clean and jerk for a total of 196kg, to become the youngest Commonwealth weightlifter gold medallist.
It was the first doping case of the Glasgow Games and will likely once again call into question the legitimacyof weightlifting as a Commonwealth Games sport given its history of drug-related incidents.
Hooper though insisted that the sport had its place in multi-sport events.
“I think weightlifting is a fantastic sport and a strong Commonwealth and Olympic sport,” he said.
“I think the issue here is about showing we have a robust anti-doping programme in place. We want to send a message to anybody in any sport who would go down the route of taking any substance to enhance performance that they will be caught.”
Nigerian weightlifting also has a history of drugs offences.
The Nigerian Weightlifting Federation was suspended for repeated doping violations by the International Weightlifting Federation in 2001 and banned from competing in the following year’s Manchester Games.
Posted By Valentino Godwin
WASHINGTON (AFP) – The United States has found that Russia violated a 1987 arms control treaty by testing a ground-launched cruise missile, a senior US official said late Monday, calling the matter “very serious.”
The announcement adds a new dispute at a time of already heightened tensions between Washington and the Kremlin over the crisis in Ukraine, with western countries accusing Russia of arming Ukrainian separatists and destabilizing the country.
The US concluded in a 2014 report that Russia had violated the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, which barred it from possessing, producing or flight-testing such cruise missiles with a range of 500 to 5,500 kilometers, the official told AFP.
President Barack Obama has sent a letter to his counterpart Vladimir Putin on the subject, which the administration official described as “a very serious matter which we have attempted to address with Russia for some time now.”
Washington was prepared to discuss its determination with Moscow “immediately” in senior-level bilateral talks, the official added, saying Congress and US allies have been kept abreast of the matter.
“The United States is committed to the viability of the INF Treaty,” the official said. “We encourage Russia to return to compliance with its obligations under the treaty and to eliminate any prohibited items in a verifiable manner.”
The Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF), signed by then US president Ronald Reagan and his Russian counterpart Mikhail Gorbachev, eliminated nuclear and conventional intermediate range ground-launched ballistic and cruise missiles.
The official said the INF treaty served the “mutual security interests of the parties” — not only the United States and Russia but also 11 other successor states of the Soviet Union.
“Moreover, this treaty contributes to the security of our allies and to regional security in Europe and in the Far East.”
“The United States will, of course, consult with allies on this matter to take into account the impact of this Russian violation on our collective security if Russia does not return to compliance,” the official said.
In January, State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said Washington had raised concerns with Moscow following a New York Times report it had begun testing a new ground-launched cruise missile as early as 2008, and that the State Department’s senior arms control official had repeatedly raised the issue with Moscow since May 2013.
Psaki said at the time she could not refute the details of the Times report, and that there was an ongoing interagency review to determine whether the Russians had violated the terms of a US-Russian arms control pact.
Posted By Valentino Godwin
KANDAHAR (AFP) – A suicide attacker killed an influential cousin of Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Tuesday, officials said, raising tensions during a dispute over election results that will determine the country’s new leader as US-led troops withdraw.
Hashmat Karzai was a campaign manager in the southern province of Kandahar for Ashraf Ghani, one of the two presidential candidates involved in a bitter stand-off that threatens to trigger worsening ethnic instability.
Hashmat, who famously owned a pet lion, was killed at his home outside Kandahar city by a man with explosives hidden in his turban as visitors arrived to celebrate the Eid holiday at the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
“A suicide bomber disguised as a guest came to Hashmat Karzai’s house to greet him,” Dawa Khan Minapal, the Kandahar provincial governor’s spokesman, told AFP.
“After he hugged Hashmat, he blew up his explosives and killed him.”
Ghani and opposition leader Abdullah Abdullah are at loggerheads over the June 14 second-round election, which has been mired in allegations of massive fraud.
Ghani won the vote according to preliminary results, but an audit of the ballots has started after Abdullah refused to accept defeat due to claims of “industrial-scale” ballot-box stuffing.
With the audit beset by another outbreak of complaints from both sides, many fear the country is at risk of returning to the ethnic violence of the 1992-1996 civil war.
– Election crisis unsolved –
US Secretary of State John Kerry flew into Kabul earlier this month to broker the deal for a complete recount of the eight million votes after Abdullah appeared ready to set up a “parallel government” in opposition to Ghani.
The deal averted an immediate crisis, but US and UN officials have struggled to get Afghanistan’s first democratic transfer of power back on the track as the two sides bicker over how fraudulent votes should be identified.
A credible election was seen as a key benchmark of the costly US-led military and civilian aid effort to develop Afghanistan since the ousting of the Taliban regime in 2001.
President Karzai, who has ruled since the Taliban’s fall, was due to hand over power to his successor on August 2.
Many diplomats insisted that holding the presidential inauguration on schedule was essential for future aid funding and military support, but the event has now been delayed without any new date being announced.
Abdullah, who draws most of his support from Tajiks and other northern groups, won the first round of voting, but preliminary results from the second-round run-off showed Ghani, whose support base is among the Pashtun tribes of the south and east, ahead by over one million votes.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the killing of Hashmat Karzai, and no other casualties were reported.
Explosives hidden in turbans have been used on several occasions in Afghanistan, including an attack in Kabul in 2011 that killed former president Burhanuddin Rabbani.
Hashmat Karzai first worked in this year’s presidential election campaign for Qayyum Karzai, the president’s brother, and later moved to support Ghani when Qayyum withdrew from the race.
Posted By Valentino Godwin
THE HAGUE – Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte called Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko Tuesday to ask Ukrainian forces to stop fighting around the MH17 crash site, a government spokesman said.
“The prime minister this morning called the Ukrainian president with a request to halt hostilities around the crash site,” Jean Fransman told AFP, after fighting with pro-Russian separatists prevented international investigators reaching the site for a third day.
Poroshenko told Rutte he would do everything possible to allow investigators access, Fransman said.
“Rutte expressed his concern about the fact it appeared the investigators may today yet again not reach the site,” Fransman said.
“This is important because we want to get to the crash site as quickly as possible to get the victims and bring them home.
“Mr Poroshenko said that he will do everything possible to make access possible.”
The Ukrainian military confirmed early Tuesday that violence was still raging.
“Pockets of insurgents are continuing to fire on Ukrainian positions from the towns of Snizhne, Torez and Shakhtarsk,” it said, referring to towns within about 30 kilometres (18 miles) of the site.
The fresh conflict came a day after rebels admitted Kiev had regained control over part of the vast site, where the remains of some of the 298 victims from the MH17 crash still lie 12 days after the disaster.
Kiev would not confirm the rebels’ claim, saying only that its troops had entered a string of towns around the scene.
A Dutch and Australian police mission needs access to the site to recover victim remains and personal effects.
Over 200 bodies have already been recovered and sent to the Netherlands for identification. The Netherlands and Australia were home to most of the people on the flight, which the West alleges was brought down by separatists.
Posted By Valentino Godwin
Team Nigeria’s chances of adding more medals to her kitty gets brighter with the beginning of events in Wrestling at the ongoing XX Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Scotland.
The venue for Wrestling is at the Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre and Technical Director of Nigerian Wrestling Federation, Damian Ohaike has predicted more medals swoop for Team Nigeria.
‘’We’ve never disappointed when it comes to Wrestling. We’re going to do well and I am sure that more medals will be won by my matsmen and women”, Ohaike said.
Nigerian wrestlers have made their marks in the mats and are equally known by their opponents as tough nuts.
‘’We know ourselves by virtue of the fact that we meet at events. But we hold the ace. But they will be surprised by the skill and technicality of the female wrestlers. They are so good that they will rule the mats”, Ohaike said noting that the males, too, would win medals for Nigeria.
At the Commonwealth Games, the Wrestlers would only wrestle in the Freestyle events as the Greco-Roman was not approved. ‘’We’re taking part in the Freestyles. We’re good to go”, Ohaike assured.
Posted By Valentino Godwin
Impeached President of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) Aminu Maigari is leaving no stone unturned to overturn his ouster from the Glass House.
Maigari, we gathered from a close confidant is bent on reclaiming his mandate during the Extra-ordinary Congress of the NFF, where he hopes that delegates, especially those from the northern section of the country will fault his impeachment process last Thursday by some members of the Executive Committee in Abuja and return him to office.
It was learnt from another reliable insider that Maigari, who is the Bauchi State FA Chairman, has already swung into action by allegedly telling northern delegates that his impeachment was spearheaded by southern elements, who planned on enthroning their own dynasty, a strategy, which we gathered, has been bought hook line and sinker by some FA chairmen and secretaries from the northern region.
“Maigari is not going to give up easily in his fight to overturn his impeachment as he has already reached out to delegates from the north, prompting them to believe that his impeachment was orchestrated by ethnic elements and begging them to overturn it at the next Congress.
This message is gaining grounds amongst these delegates, most of whom feel pity for him and want to help him regain his mandate”, said a reliable source, who spoke to Sports Vanguard on condition of anonymity.
Another pro-Maigari force said last night that Maigari was going to use everything within his resources to get his mandate restored, adding that “ we also need to fight back with our might, which Maigari has promised to make available”.
But as Maigari is strategising ahead of the next Congress, those who orchestrated his impeachment are also plotting to seal his fate once and for all.
An arrowhead FA Chairman from the South-South, told Sports Vanguard last night that there was no way Maigari can get his impeachment upturned at the Congress, adding that Maigari was impeached for genuine reasons and that the impeachment was for the interest of Nigerian football and not on North-South divide.”
“Maigari thinks he can get his impeachment overturned at the Congress by bringing tribal sentiments. We have gone beyond that.”
Posted By Valentino Godwin
Amalaha won gold on Friday in the women’s weightlifting 53 kg category.
The gold medallist revealed that dedication, determination and discipline were the three Ds which would propel her to victory at the 2016 Olympics.
GOLDEN GIRL . . . Nigeria’s gold medalist Chika Amalaha competing in the women’s weightlifting 53kg class, at the SECC Precinct during the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Scotland, Photo: AFP PHOTO
Amalaha said she was already working on her strategy for the Olympics the same way she did with the five Ps of “Proper Preparation Prevents Poor Performance”.
She said this ensured her success in Glasgow.
“Before I landed in Glasgow for this Commonwealth Games, I prepared very well. I always worked with my five Ps, which is ‘proper preparation prevents poor performance’.
“So, I had to work hard to prevent poor performance and I worked for the gold and for the record.
“The next thing is for me to be determined, discipline and dedicated, which is what I will use to work for the next Olympics,” Amalaha said.
She also pointed out that the series of competitions lined up for her would help prepare her for the Olympics.
“I have some competitions ahead and I have to train for them. This is to prepare very well to ensure I go for the gold in Olympics.”
“I hope to sustain this feat with my three Ds of ‘dedication, determination and discipline’. That is the only way to prosper.
“So, I have to prepare well for every competition and I always dedicate myself with a sense of discipline to achieve result.
“At my first attempt, I told God that I need him to be the rope of my hand and the strength of my body.
“When I was going for the second attempt, I was nervous and, due to tension, I had to go back and a spirit told me to go there and pull the weight speedily, and that it is a baby weight for me.
“I then commanded the weight and it moved with me,” Amalaha said.
She commended other Nigerians and her coach for the opportunity given to her to showcase her talent at the ongoing Commonwealth Games.
It would be recalled that Amalaha had also won gold in the 58kg weight category at the African Youth Games in Gaborone, Botswana in May.
She lifted 87kg in snatch then, to set a new African record.
The athlete went ahead to lift 102kg in the clean and jerk which was equally an African record
Posted By Valentino Godwin
Nigeria’s Blessing Okagbare sensationally became the Commonwealth champion last night when she ran 10.85 seconds to beat the pack that included Jamaican duo of Veronica Campbell-Brown and Kerron Stewart who took the silver and bronze in 11.03 and 11.07 respectively.
Nigeria’s Blessing Okagbare celebrates winning the women’s 100m athletics event at Hampden Park during the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Scotland on July 28, 2014. AFP PHOTO
On the stands cheering was Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan of Delta State who has been the pillar of many Nigerian athletes including Okagbare. He was emotional about the victory, jumping and sending high fives to Nigerians around him.
“It was a deserved victory. She has made Nigeria proud and we are happy about this sweet victory,” Uduaghan said.
After the World Championship in Russia last year, Uduaghan approved special training grants for Okagbare. Blessing was so emotional that she shed tears and promised Uduaghan that she would deliver a world title in his honour. She did so yesterday.
“This is great for Nigeria. Uduaghan is a powerful motivator. He inspired this victory,” Amaju Pinnick, the Delta State chairman of Sports Commission said.
Uduaghan had visited Nigerian athletes yesterday to motivate them.
The athletes jumped in celebration to receive him.
“It feels great to get this far and win. I’m grateful to God. I thank all those behind this success especially our Governor who is here to support us morally after his financial support,” Blessing said.
She had pulled out her spike shoe to celebrate immediately after the race that saw another Nigerian Blessing Asumnu placing last. She hopes to make up with the relay event.
Posted By Valentino Godwin
With her precious silver medal dangling on her chest, she beams her toothpaste smile as she acknowledged banters from her colleagues.
‘’I’ve never felt this good in my career”, Obioma Okoli winner of Nigeria’s silver medal in Weightlifting at the XX Commonwealth Games in Glasgow said.
GOOD LIFT: Obioma Okoli competes in the 63kg women’s weightlifting event at the Commonwealth Games. She won a silver medal for Nigeria.
She had won gold medals for Nigeria in the last Commonwealth Games in New Delhi. She also repeated her golden lift in Malaysia but seems to appreciate and savour the silver medal more than gold.
‘’This silver is more precious than Gold. In short, it is Golden silver”, she said as tears glistened in her eyes. Using her backhand, she wiped the tears of joy and revealed why she so much cherishes the silver medal.
‘’I had a bad injury on my knee(she pulled up her track to reveal her knee that was bandaged). ‘’My knee cap shifted from my first lift and the pain was so agonising.
The Doctors took me to ascertain the extent of injury and ruled me out from the rest of the lifts. I was devastated. I felt lonely and could not believe that I will no longer defend my last gold in India. I tried to plead with the medics to find a way to treat me but they warned me not to lift again. I rebuked them.
But I had that urge in me and I didn’t go back to the medics again as I bore my pain alone. Unknown to them, I went back when my next lift was called.
I limped and held the babel, looked up to heaven and prayed a silent prayer. The crowd roared when I held the weight over my head with one leg. My opponent also lifted the same weight with me but because my body weight was more than hers, she won gold.
Winning silver with one leg was so amazing that all the lifters could not believe it. The Doctors were shocked when they saw me lifting. I did that because of my love for Nigeria and my love for lifting. That is why I think that this silver(pointing) means everything to me. I am happy. I am happy”, she said as tears began to drop from her eyes.
‘’I thank my coaches and colleagues and our Nigerian officials. They stood by me. They knew what I can do when it comes to lifting weight. I dedicate this medal to God for having mercy on me”, she said.
Posted By Valentino Godwin
Lagos — Operatives of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad, Ikeja, Lagos have arrested three persons who specialised in stealing bank customers cheques with which they withdraw money through alleged connivance of some banks staff.
Recovered from the suspects were two dud cheques, fake letter heads of the Ekiti State House of Assembly and that of the state’s Ministry of Finance and Economic Development which they allegedly intended to use to procure United Kingdom visa.
The suspects’ modus operandi, as gathered, included visiting banks around Lagos pretending to be transacting one business or another. Meanwhile, they would be on the look out for any customer who is careless with his cheque book with the aim of stealing such.
At other times, they would search waste baskets in the banks for unused cheque leaves like those discarded by the owners due to one error or another.
Police sources said they would, thereafter, take the cheque leaflets to insiders in the bank who, after ascertaining the amount in the account, pay the impostor, using the cheque as valid instrument.
Luck, however, ran out on the trio of Kola Ademola, Oyedepo Adesola and Kola Osho as they were arrested last week in pipeline area of Abule-Egba following a tip-off.
Blank cheques are usually brought to us by our boys — Ademola
Thirty three-year-old Ademola, a graduate of Business Administration and son of a retired soldier, admitted that he has been in the shady business for a while.
According to the father of two, “I am an educational consultant. I enroll students for final year examinations and extra moral classes and I also do tutorials for them. I met one Samson at Obalende who introduced me to the business. He gave me the dud cheques I was arrested with.
“The blank cheques are usually brought to us by our boys. They are not fake but original. What we do after our boys bring them, is to deliver them to insiders in banks who work on them and bring the cash. We pay them at the end of the each transaction, depending on the amount in the account.
“But the present cash-less policy is affecting us because we now deal under mandate. By that, I mean we can only withdraw less than N100,000 which would not require the presence of signatories or confirmation.
“This is the third time I brought a cheque to Mr. Osho. But he said he does not have any insider in the particular bank.
“When I took the first one to him, he told me there was no money in the account and the second cheque was also not successful.
“This is double calamity because we have not made any money from these cheques. As if that is not enough, the dud cheques have landed us in police net” said the Ikire, Osun State-born suspect.
I wanted to use the letter-head for UK visa —Osho
But 57-year-old Osho claimed he was not aware the cheques Ademola gave to him were fake, explaining that he was only given the cheques to withdraw money with a promise to be given a stipend at the end of the day.
Hear him: “Ademola is like a son to me because his late father was my friend. I sent all the businesses (cheques) he brought back to him because I told him I did not want any trouble. That is why I took the cheques back to him saying I could not withdraw the money”
Asked where he got the Ekiti State House of Assembly letter head, he replied: “Yes, the documents were found on me. I wanted to use them to apply for UK visa and I thought that if I used the letter-head, the embassy would speed up my application. I downloaded it from the internet.
“I knew I was cheating when I got the documents but I had no option.”
However, the third suspect, Oyedepo Adesola denied having anything to do with the recovered cheques and document.
The Higher National Diploma holder claimed he only went to visit Osho when he was arrested, saying: “I am innocent. I do not understand what the Police are
Posted By Valentino Godwin
YENAGOA — Unknown armed men have kidnapped the 86-year-old uncle of Chief Timipre Sylva, the immediate past governor of Bayelsa State.
The victim, identified as Chief Benson Ayerite Adigio-Eseni, a retired army major, it was learnt, was seized in the wee hours of yesterday in his country home at Okpoama, Brass Local Government Area of the state.
A community source told Vanguard that the kidnappers, armed with AK-47 rifles, stormed the coastal settlement on the Atlantic fringe in a speedboat and whisked away their victim to an unknown destination.
They were said to have shot sporadically into the air to scare away the natives before snatching the former governor’s uncle who is also the father of a former aide to former Governor Timipre Sylva, Austin Adigio, before disappearing into the creeks.
At press time, the kidnappers were yet to establish contract with the victim’s family.
Contacted, the state Police Public Relations Officer, Mr. Alex Akhigbe, confirmed the incident but said information at his disposal still sketchy.
Posted By Valentino Godwin
ABEOKUTA — Tragedy struck, yesterday, at Ifo market in Ifo Local Government Area of Ogun State when three persons got electrocuted as a high-tension wire fell on them.
It was gathered that the high-tension cable suddenly snapped and fell on the victims. Three were said to have died on the spot, while several others sustained injuries.
The Ogun State Police Public Relations Officer, Muyiwa Adejobi, who confirmed the incident, however, said only two persons died, while two others who sustained injuries have been admitted at the Ifo General Hospital.
Posted By Valentino Godwin
Leading telecommunications services provider, Airtel Nigeria, has taken yet another bold step in realization of its corporate vision of becoming the No1 mobile Internet service provider in Nigeria as it announces the introduction of Internet Bundles for Android devices.
According to Airtel, the new value offering, which is first of its kind in the country, is consistent with its key objective of providing innovative and affordable mobile Internet solutions that will make life simpler, exciting and more enjoyable for telecoms consumers across the country.
The new Android Internet Bundle plan is specifically tailored to empower Android users to connect with business associates, family and friends and also enable them enjoy an amazing data experience on their smartphones.
The Bundle plan comes in two variants, the Android 2.0, which comes with 2GB data designed for medium Internet users while the Android Bundle 4.5 with 4.5GB data is tailored for high Internet consumers.
Speaking on the new value offering, the Chief Commercial Officer, Airtel Nigeria, Mr. Maurice Newa, said Airtel will continue to blaze the trail in revolutionizing the mobile Internet landscape in Nigeria with highly innovative and affordable solutions.
“At Airtel, we are positioned as Nigeria’s number one mobile Internet Company just as we are committed to making life simpler, more enjoyable and really exciting for our customers.
“We understand that our Internet bundle for Android users will help increase productivity, boost personal relations, family happiness and business profitability,” he said.
First of its kind in terms of data offerings in Nigeria, the Airtel Android packages offer customers sufficient data to browse on their Android phones at very affordable rates. With the introduction of these packages, customers using Android phones no longer have to worry about affordability and the required data needed to enjoy an amazing browsing experience on the Airtel network.
Customers are advised to dial *437# to subscribe to the 2G Android Bundle while customers who prefer to subscribe to the 4.GB Android Bundle are advised to either dial*438#
The 2GB and 4.5GB Bundles go for a rate of N2,000 and N3,500, respectively and are both valid for 30 days. Both Bundles have different burn rates, allowing customers to enjoy the service at a more affordable rate during the night. For more information, please visit http://www.ng.airtel.com
Posted By Valentino Godwin
ABA— A policeman attached to the Patrol and Guard, P&G, Aba Central Police Station, Abia State, Inspector Sunday Mefo, has died after he accidentally shot himself on the leg.
The incident, it was gathered, occurred on Sunday at about 10 pm after he had booked and collected an AK-47 rifle which he was to use for night duty.
Though information on how the incident happened was still sketchy at press time, unconfirmed report has it that while Mefo was trying to check the gun’s condition, as he pulled the trigger, a bullet went off and hit him on the leg.
According to reports, the inspector was quickly rushed to a nearby hospital where he was reportedly being treated until yesterday morning when he died.
Man attempts suicide
In another development, a man identified as Kenneth Rowland has been reportedly arrested and detained at the Ogbor Hill Police station for attempted suicide.
Sources have it that the man, a regular customer of an undisclosed hotel at Road 4, Federal Housing Estate, in the outskirts of the commercial city, on receiving his hotel bill excused himself, dashed to the middle of a main road opposite the hotel and waited for an oncoming vehicle to hit him.
It was learnt that people around the hotel, who saw him, rushed there, dragged him out of the road and afterwards informed police of the incident.
The suspect, was later taken to Ogbor Hill police station where he was interrogated and detained.
Contacted, Abia State Police Public Relations Officer, PPRO, Geoffrey Ogbonna, said he was yet to be informed of the incidents.
Posted By Valentino Godwin
The Lagos State Government disclosed, yesterday, that the Nigerian Ambassador to Liberia, Chigozie Obi Nnadozie, three staff of the Economic Community of West African States, ECOWAS, and 55 others had contact with the victim of Ebola Virus Disease, EVD, Patrick Sawyer, who died in Lagos, last Thursday.
The Joint Federal and State Team in collaboration with other health organisations on prevention of Ebola outbreak in Lagos, has begun monitoring of the 59 persons that had contact with the victim, who died of Ebola Virus Disease, EVD, in a private hospital in Lagos, last week.
Addressing a joint press briefing, yesterday, on the update of the Ebola virus disease, Director National Centre for Disease Control, NCDC, Professor Abdulsalim Nasidi, and Lagos State Commissioner for Health, Dr. Jide Idris, explained that out of the 59 persons that had contact with the Sawyer in Lagos, 44 were hospital contacts (38 healthcare workers and six laboratory staff) and 15 airport contacts comprising three ECOWAS staff – driver, liaison and protocol officer, Nigerian Ambassador to Monrovia, two nursing staff and five airport passenger handlers.
Appeal for calm
Idris, who appealed for calm, said right now, 20 contacts had been physically screened. “The airline manifest has not been provided by the airline at the time of this report and therefore, the precise number of passenger contacts is yet to be ascertained, especially as two flights were involved Monrovia – Lome and Lome – Lagos. There was no report of medical incident filed and the General Declaration report of the flight.”
Idris who stated categorically that only one case of imported Ebola and one death has been recorded in Lagos, said: “No Nigerian is infected, but all contacts are being actively followed. We call on all Nigerians to be calm and not panic and I do hereby assure them that both the state and Federal governments are up in arms to ensure that the virus did not escape and that no Nigeria is infected with this virus,” he stressed.
Preliminary investigation
It was further disclosed that preliminary laboratory investigation conducted by the NCDC AI virology laboratory of the Lagos University Teaching Hospital, LASUTH, and the Redeemers’ University’s World-Bank Funded African Centre of Excellence for Genomics of Infectious Diseases (ACEGID) detected viral DNA and in both blood and urine samples obtained from the patient were positive for the Pan Filo virus analysis and Ebola Zaire MGB virus strain – specific analysis. Samples were also collected for further confirmation at the WHO, collaborating laboratory for Ebola in Dakar.
Meanwhile, an isolation ward has been designated by the Lagos State Ministry of Health at the Infectious Disease Hospital, Yaba for case management. The designation of three other health facilities was said to be under way.
Idris explained that adhering strictly to WHO guidelines, the body of the deceased patient was decontaminated using 10 per cent sodium hypochlorite and cremated, with the permission of the government of Liberia. “A cremation report has been prepared for dispatch to the family. The vehicle that conveyed the remains was also fully decontaminated.”
Nasidi, who allayed fears that EVD cannot be acquired through mere coming into contact with the EVD patient, disclosed that effort to send the packaged sample of the decease to Dakar failed as the courier company turned it down.
“We were disappointed that the courier rejected the sample. That is why we immediately sought the second opinion of World Health Organisation, WHO, recommended laboratory which is International Centre for Genomics. We are still going to dispatch it to Dakar, most likely first thing today but the WHO has accepted this result.”
Nasidi explained further that even dead bodies of EVD could be more dangerous in terms of transmission.
Case management
To ensure appropriate case management and infection prevention and control, he explained that an isolation ward has been designated by the Lagos State Ministry of Health at the Infectious Disease Hospital, Yaba for case management, adding that the designation of three other health facilities is under way.
Further, he disclosed that a total of 100 Personal Protective Equipment, PPEs, have been procured by the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, NCDC, and Federal Ministry of Health, FMOH and distributed to the private hospital and the state Ministry of Health and WHO also donated 250 PPEs to the NCDC/FMOH.
On how the corpse was decomposed, the Commissioner said the state adhered strictly to WHO guidelines, the body of the deceased patient was de-contaminated, using 10 per cent sodium hypochlorite and cremated, with the permission of the government of Liberia. “A cremation report has been prepared for dispatch to the family. The vehicle that conveyed the remains was also fully decontaminated,” he added.
Recognising the importance of involving the community early in the response, he stated that already the various communities, traditional and religious leaders have been alerted about the disease and urged to report promptly to healthcare workers of any suspected case.
Categories of EVD
Explaining categories of Ebola Virus Disease, EVD, spread, he explained that “those who come in direct contact of excretions of the dead are primary high risk group; the second group are those that come in contact with facilities used to actually treat or handle these patients; the third category are those who come in contact with those who came in very closed contact with the victim or the dead body. However, the fourth category is those who are within the areas of active transmission of the virus.
“It is also important we clarify a question of whether any of the contacts has been tested – the two laboratories are on standby for 24 hours and we have the APIN and the laboratory committee on the group screening one on one, and taking temperature of the contacts twice a day – morning and evening. We are following WHO criteria and the special protocol that you screen only the blood of only those contacts that start developing symptoms. We are going to identify few of them that we’d already known that came directly in contact with the blood of the deceased while managing him,” he added.
Warning communities that eat bats, he said this is the time for them to desist from consuming it. Similarly, he noted that some communities that worship bats and keep them in their houses should be very careful and stop the act.
Burials
On burial ceremonies of people who died from EVD, he said it had been shown that 40 per cent of the cases of Ebola virus spread was from the mishandling of the burial of the dead bodies. He warned that in case of any Ebola death, people should not just go and bury but contact public health officials.
Preventive tips
President of the Nigerian Academy of Science, Professor Oyewale Tomori, who commended the state government for its prompt response, harped on the rules of hand washing and infection control. “There is no need for panic if we follow the rules of hand washing and infection control. There is need for Nigerians to be at alert as it is happening within the West African countries. There is absolutely no need to panic, he insisted.
“Where it has spread, it is because people have abandoned the rules of hand washing and infection control; we shouldn’t have diseases like Ebola if we maintain the rules of hand washing. Where people have followed the rules of hand washing, we must be at alert; we are not out of the wood yet. We must continue to be at alert. We need to be washing our hands but no reason to panic.” He explained that domestic animals are not carriers of Ebola virus and people who are rearing domestic animals such as pig should not be afraid.
Also speaking, the Special Adviser to the Governor on Public Health, Dr. Yewande Adeshina urged residents and health officials in the state to report any suspected case of Ebola virus immediately. Adeshina appealed to residents to reduce the risk of contracting the disease by observing high standard of hygiene through washing of hands often with soap and water.
“Avoid close contact with anyone who is sick and ensure that objects used by the sick are decontaminated and properly disposed because fluids from an infected person are extremely dangerous,” Adeshina urged residents.
NCAA suspends A_SKY Airline operations to Nigeria
Meanwhile, the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, NCAA, yesterday, said it has suspended all A_SKY Airline operations to Nigeria with immediate effect. The airline flew the Liberian infected with the Ebola virus into Lagos, which has created panic and diverted world attention to Nigeria.
Posted By Valentino Godwin
UMUAHIA — FORMER President of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Dr. Dozie Ikedife, has described Nigeria as an inflammable commodity that could explode anytime.
Ikedife, a delegate at the ongoing National Conference, warned that the country could explode, if the confab failed to handle the issue of derivation formula with honesty, seriousness and without unnecessary sentiment.
According to him, it is unfortunate that some delegates at the confab are trying to scuttle efforts to amicably settle the issue of derivation formula to the satisfaction of everybody, particularly Niger Delta people.
He noted that people of the Niger Delta had been suffering because of oil exploration and long years of neglect.
“With the stalemate on the issue of derivation formula Nigeria can be seen as an inflammable commodity and nobody should carry naked fire to where there is an inflammable commodity.
“This issue of derivation, if we push it to the bitter end it may end up in a way that an explosion will be in the face of all of us.
“Many realised that the quantum of unhappiness, quantum of anger is very high and we must not push the issue to the brinks of explosion,” Ikedife cautioned.
He said while some people like him were working assiduously to tidy up issues at stake, especially the contentious derivation formula, some others at the conference were busy drawing the issue back with personal goals they set out to achieve before arrival at the conference.
He said: “Some people from a particular section of the country are bent on ensuring that no meaningful decision was taken on the issue of derivation.
“They are not aware of what the people in whose community the mineral recourses are tapped or explored suffer or they know but deliberately want them to continue suffering, and are at the conference working to put stumbling blocks to the way forward to settle the issue.
He appealed to all the delegates currently on recess to “adjust their minds towards achieving meaningful decision on the issue when the conference reconvenes on August 11, 2014.”
Ikedife insisted that the Federal Government had given Nigerians an opportunity, through the confab, to resolve the contentious issue of derivation for the country to have peace.
Assessing the performance of the confab, Ikedife gave it a pass mark, but noted that the only reservation he had was on the issue of no-go areas as directed by the Presidency.
“Much as we obey the President’s directive, suppose the solutions to Nigerian’s problems are to be found in the no-go areas, should we not chase the solution into those areas?
Posted By Valentino Godwin
State House press statement below…
President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan wholeheartedly condemns the recent terrorist attacks in Kano and Adamawa States as well as the kidnap of the Lamido of Kolofata in Northern Cameroon, Lamido Seini Lamine and the wife of the Vice Prime Minister of Cameroon.
The President describes as shocking, callous and reprehensible the multiple bomb blasts that occurred in Kano within 24 hours, and the unrelenting attacks by the Boko Haram at a time the Muslim faithful are observing the holy festival of Eid el Fitri.
He commiserates with the families of all those who lost their loved ones in the Kano and Adamawa attacks and wishes the injured speedy recovery.
President Jonathan further notes that the deployment of young women as suicide bombers represents a new low in the inhuman campaign by these terrorists and an expression of utter disregard for the dignity of the female gender as well as a wicked exploitation of the girl-child.
The President states that the abduction of the Lamido of Kolofata and the wife of the Vice premier of Cameroon clearly underscores the regional security threat that Boko Haram has become.
He welcomes the recent resolve by the Defence Ministers of Nigeria, Cameroon, Chad, Benin and Niger to further strengthen existing partnerships in order to forestall the desperate attempt by misguided elements to turn the sub-region into a battleground for terrorism and radical extremism.
President Jonathan urges the security forces to remain resolute, and not be discouraged by the desperation of the agents of evil. He believes that with the continued cooperation between Nigeria’s security forces and their counterparts in neighbouring countries, the war against terror will surely be won.
REUBEN ABATI
Special Adviser to the President
(Media & Publicity)
July 28, 2014.
Posted By Valentino Godwin
A bomb went off this afternoon around 1.40pm at the Trade Fair Complex on Zoo Road close to the popular Shoprite shopping mall in Kano State. According to police report, a female bomber about 18 years old died, while at least six people were injured. The area has been cordoned off by security attached to Shoprite.
Posted By Valentino Godwin
Suicide bomber detonates bomb in kano.Bomb detonated at NNPC mega station in Hotoro area of Kano State.
Unconfirmed reports say that 3 people may have died in the Kano blast.
Posted By Valentino Godwin
LAGOS— The Police Special Fraud Unit, PSFU, has smashed a syndicate which speclialises in designing multinational organisations’ websites to defraud unsuspecting members of the public, particularly applicants, and arrested six members.
Among the suspects are a first class honours graduate and two final year students of the Federal University of Technology Akure, FUTA.
The suspects’ modus oparadi, according to the unit, include using logos of multinational companies to place online advertisements for jobs and scholarships and demanding application fee from interested individuals.
Luck ran out for the suspects after the unit received a petition from the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries, OPEC, last August, that a website designed as ‘OFID Scholarship Website’ (OPEC Fund for International Development for World Student Aid Scholarship) with OFID name and logo is being used to defraud unsuspecting Nigerian applicants.
How they were arrested
Explaining how they were arrested, spokesperson for the unit, Ngozi Isintume-Agu, a Deputy Superintendent of Police, said: “The petition dated August 22, 2013, said in the website, applicants were required to pay a fee of N2,500 and over 2,000 applicants responded through FirstBank account number 2020874607 and Access Bank account number 0056941009 with the name, OFID WSAS NG.
“The petitioner stated further that it was one of the victims that contacted OFID via facebook, accusing it of being an accomplice in the fraud.
“ The Cybercrime Section of the unit swung into action and the mastermind of the fraud, one Falade Oluwapelumi Ayotunde, was arrested.
“His arrest led to the arrest of five other syndicate members. Police investigation so far revealed that over 2,000 applicants paid N2,500 each into the two bank accounts provided by the suspects and the principal suspect is the only signatory to both accounts.
“Twenty-five- year-old Falade Olowapelumi Ayotunde, a 500-level Estate Management student of the Federal University of Technology, Akure, FUTA, in his confessional statement to operatives of the unit, admitted to have designed the website of OFID WSAS in June, 2012.
“He, however, claimed that the idea was sold to him by Fajobi Olalekan and Bolatiri Opemipo. He also admitted in his statement that he opened an account in both banks with the name OFID WSAS NG for applicants to pay in their application fee which many responded to.
“The suspect who hails from Akure, Ondo state, further stated that he and his cohorts printed a postal for OFIDWAS which was on the website.
I was paid N120,000 for the job
On his part, Asaolu Victor, 25, a graduate of Mining Engineering from FUTA, admitted to have assisted to paste the posters on-line.
According to Asaolu, who is from Ilesha, Osun State, he was tempted to assist because of unemployment. “Yes, I assisted to paste it on-line and at the end, I was given the sum of N80,000 and later they added N40,000, totalling N120,000 for the job.”
Another suspect, Awote Temitope Emmanuel, 27, said: “I am a 500 level Estate Management student of FUTA. I assisted Ayotunde (principal suspect ) to guarantee the accounts he opened for the OFID programme and I was paid N70,000.”
Asked if he was aware that the scholarship programme was fake, he nodded in affirmative.
I lent Ayotunde N12,000
Also on his part, 27-year-old Fajobi Olalekan, a first class Mechanical Engineering graduate of FUTA and the best graduating student in his department for 2012, told operatives that he only lent the alleged mastermind N12,000 to host the website.
According to him, “while in school, I lived in the same lodge with Ayotunde. He and his friends were always coming to me for educational assistance because of my intelligence. I once fell a victim of a scam scholarship known as EDIADS.
“Ayo approached me then and got some information regarding it which I believe gave him an idea on how to design his OFID Scholarship Website.
“I lent Ayotunde N12,000 which he used to host the website but he paid me N20,000 and informed me that the plan was successful.”
Professional advice
Adebomi Oluwatosin, who is also a graduate of FUTA, said he only offered the alleged mastermind professional advice and also lent him N100,000 at the initial stage which was paid back with an additional N100,000.
Investigation, according to the Commissioner of Police in-charge of the unit, Umar Idris, was on-going, informing that the suspects would be charged to court soon.
He however, advised members of the public to verify the authenticity of any on-line advert before parting with their money, even as he called on the victims to visit the PSFU at Milverton Road, Ikoyi , Lagos in furtherance of the investigation.
Posted By Valentino Godwin
Lagos—CONVENER of the Save Nigeria Group, SNG, Pastor Tunde Bakare, has said one of the ways to end Boko Haram insurgency is for the Federal Government to apologise to members of the sect over the murder of their leader, Mohammed Yusuf, in 2009.
He, however, said last Wednesday’s attack on former Head of State, General Muhammadu Buhari’s convoy in Kaduna State is an indication that bombing in the country is taking a new dimension.
Bakare, who is the Overseer of the Latter Rain Assembly, spoke during a state of the nation address at a church service in Lagos.
Proffering ways of ending the Boko Haram insurgency, Bakare said there was need for “updating and strengthening of military capability, creation of jobs and enhanced welfare to discourage recruits of the sect, diplomatic engagement with the international community, creation of an atmosphere of political inclusion rather than exclusion, among others. We need a strong and well coordinated approach to terrorism.”
Bakare, who was Buhari’s Vice-Presidential running mate in the 2011 presidential elections, said “but for the timely intervention of God, last week’s assassination attempt on General Muhamadu Buhari might have marked the beginning of the end for Nigeria if it had succeeded. We will not also ignore the fact that at the root of the escalation of the Boko Haram crisis was oppression and injustice.
”The summary execution of the Boko Haram’s former leader, Mohammed Yusuf in 2009 provided the soil of martyrdom for the nurture and growth of the sect. Government must declare peace first of all; apologising for the murder of Mohammed Yusuf to the sect members not their sympathisers or bandits.”
Posted By Valentino Godwin
Militant leader, Dokubo-Asari, who is also the leader of Niger Delta Peoples Salvation Force, NDPSF, yesterday, exploded, saying Buhari masterminded the attack on himself.
He lashed out at the former head of state, saying he plotted to kill many innocent Nigerians in the explosion.
The former President of Ijaw Youth Council, IYC, of the Niger Delta region, who spoke to journalists in Abuja, said Buhari and his group would fail in their conspiracy and desperation to take over power from President Goodluck Jonathan.
Claiming he knew the erstwhile Nigerian leader so well, the former militant leader said Buhari was not known to be driven in a bullet-proof car prior to the incident, alleging that the use of an armoured jeep in his motorcade started recently which confirmed his stand.
Posted By Valentino Godwin
Suspected Boko Haram militants today kidnapped wife of a senior Cameroonian minister and a traditional leader in attacks in the far north of the country that left at least six dead.
Cameroon sent warplanes and elite troops from its Rapid Intervention Battalion to stop the fighters after two attacks in Kolofata, close to the Nigerian border, said a regional police source.
Another source close to the local police force, who asked to remain anonymous, said Boko Haram had “kidnapped many people,” adding: “There was the sultan, the wife of the deputy prime minster and several police officers”.
Four civilians and two police officers were killed in the attacks on the residence of Amadou Ali, the deputy prime minster in charge of parliamentary relations, and the sultan of Kolofata, Seiny Boukar Lamine, said the source.
A source close to the sultan’s family told AFP that “four people, including the younger brother of the sultan were killed, (while) he, his spouse and children were kidnapped”.
The two attacks were carried out simultaneously at around 05:00 am (0400 GMT), said the source on condition of anonymity.
Another police officer said fighter planes were deployed to Kolofata early on Sunday morning and “there was shelling in the area” after the attacks, without giving further details.
The Nigeria-based Islamist group Boko Haram has stepped up raids into northern Cameroon, murdering and stealing with impunity despite military efforts to clamp down on its insurgency.
On Thursday evening, two Cameroonian soldier were killed as they tried to defend a local village from fighters.
Cameroon, like other west African countries, has beefed up its operations against Boko Haram since the kidnapping of more than 200 Nigerian schoolgirls over three months ago sparked an international outcry.
Also on Sunday, at least five people were killed in two attacks on Nigeria’s largest northern city, Kano, by suspected militants from the Islamist group.
One attack targeted a Catholic church in a mainly Christian area of the city, when an improvised bomb was thrown into the building shortly after mass, the police said.
In another, a female suicide bomber killed herself and injured five police officers when she blew herself up outside a university in Kano, a police spokesman added.
Boko Haram has killed thousands of people, including more than 2,000 civilians this year, since they started a bloody insurgency to establish an Islamic state in the mainly Muslim north of Nigeria in 2009.
Posted By Valentino Godwin
David Ospina joined Nice from Colombian side Atletico Nacional in 2008
Arsenal have signed Colombia goalkeeper David Ospina from Nice on a long-term contract for an undisclosed fee.
Ospina, 25, had been with French Ligue 1 side Nice since 2008 and helped his country reach the quarter-finals at the recent World Cup in Brazil.
Gunners boss Arsene Wenger said: “David is an excellent goalkeeper. He will add strength to our squad and we are very pleased that he will be joining us.
“He has good experience and a proven record of performing.”
Wenger had earlier suggested (external) that Ospina, who is expected to make his debut at next month’s Emirates Cup tournament, could displace Wojciech Szczesny as the club’s first-choice goalkeeper.
Meaner Ospina
With David Ospina ever-present, Colombia conceded fewer goals in qualifying for the 2014 World Cup (13) than any other South American team
Speaking after Saturday’s 1-0 defeat at New York Red Bulls, Wenger said that Ospina had proved his worth at Nice by replacing France keeper Hugo Lloris, now at Tottenham.
Wenger said: “I’ve known him for a long time because he played for Nice – he went there a few years ago and slowly became a very important player for them.
“Hugo Lloris played for Nice before he moved to Lyon. After he moved, they played Ospina. He had a big impact straight away and Lloris was not an easy player to replace.”
Nice coach Claude Puel, speaking to Sky Sports News after Nice were beaten 3-2 at Brentford in a friendly on Saturday, said: “It’s a good affair for Arsenal because he’s a very good player. You will see next season the quality of this player.”
Aresnal welcomed the player to the club and added that the move “is subject to the completion of regulatory processes”.
New York Red Bulls 1-0 Arsenal
Arsenal legend Thierry Henry gained victory over his former club in a pre-season friendly in the Red Bull Arena.
The only goal came on the half-hour when former Southampton striker Bradley Wright-Phillips poked home from Henry’s corner.
Wenger said: “We had no Olivier Giroud, no Theo Walcott, no Alexis Sanchez and no Lukas Podolski. Chuba Akpom did well but he’s a young boy and he has to learn a lot but he has potential.
“We were dominated physically in the first half, we came back into it in the last 10 minutes, their keeper made a few saves and our combinations were better. We lacked a bit of pace without any centre forward.”
Arsenal (4-3-2-1): Szczesny (Martinez 46); Jenkinson (Bellerin 46), Hayden (Miquel 46), Monreal, Gibbs; Arteta (Diaby 46), Wilshere (Coquelin 46), Ramsey (Flamini 46); Zelalem (Akpom 46), Cazorla (Olsson 71 ); Rosicky (Toral 71).
Posted By Valentino Godwin
Top Nigerian music artiste, 9ice, seems to be angry and would not want to entertain any question from the media concerning reports him getting married to another woman, after his first marriage packed up like a badly arranged cards.
News making the rounds is that the ‘Gongo Aso’ crooner will soon be getting married to one Olasunkanmi Ajala, a 32-year-old lady, who is reportedly pregnant for the singer. Reports say the lovers have been dating for three years.
When Nigeriafilms.com contacted 9ice on Wednesday morning on the matter, he declined to speak and warned us not to ask him any question. “Don’t ask me about any stupid story, please, I take God beg you, okay? Thank you,” he said.
Recall that 9ice has a child with his estranged wife, Toni Payne. Some months later, news went viral that he got a set of twin girls from an Abuja-based lover. Though he earlier denied it, but later accepted that he fathered the girls
Posted By Valentino Godwin
Posted By Valentino Godwin
Self acclaimed gospel singer, Maheeda, has suddenly gone cold after some tours round some media houses in Lagos.
Maheeda took to her social page to explain that she has been down for some moments, which she says it’s a time she wishes to communicate with her God for guidance.
According to her, “I’m kinda in my down moments today, those moments that I ask God where do I go from here, what does he have next for me, just me and him, but maybe I should share with you guys too this moment. Although he is strong in my weakness.”
With her large fan base on the social network, the controversial singer got some words of encouragement, which she in turn appreciated.
Posted By Valentino Godwin
Fuji star, Wasiu Alabi Pasuma, has disclosed that he may likely settle down with Nollywood Actress, Ayo Adesanya soon.
Speaking with Nigeria Films, the musician who recently released three singles gave a reason why he has not settled down yet. He said he had always despised marriage because being a father to children born out of wedlock was easier job for him.
“I had all my children out of wedlock, and really, I could have been married to Ayo Adesanya when I wanted to settle down, but it didn’t really work. And personally, when I was younger, I always saw it as enjoyment. I didn’t really think about marriage, but now I think I need it and I’m sure it will happen very soon. But let me tell you this that I am a good father, because I try as much as possible to take good care of my children, give them good education and unite them,” he disclosed.
Posted By Valentino Godwin
Just as we thought that the rift between Ghanaian actress, Nadia Buhari and Nollywood bad boy Jim Iyke, was gradually getting settled as the duo were seen hanging around each other, our thought has been proven wrong as it seems like the two love birds had broken up for good.
This was proven recently when Jim Iyke joined the world users of instagram with the name ‘Jim.iyke’ and was seen flirting with his US based model and video Vixen Sandra Benede.
Sandra Benede, had four pictures of Jim Iyke and a video of him spelling out his true instagram ID on her instagram page
On one of the bad boy’s picture, she described Jim as‘Perfection,’ while on another, as ‘King’ then on another picture where jim sat on a chair with his phone, she rejoiced with ‘finally jimmy is on IG @jim.iyke.’
When we took a look at Jim Iyke’s Ig page also, we observed that he was also flirting with his model friend with an inscription underneath her photo ‘Black panties. R.kelly. You killed it sandy!! I see you!’
Whether he is still with Nadia or they have broken up, only time will tell or could this be a publicity stunt which is now a national anthem among some celebrities in Nigeria?
Posted By Valentino Godwin
Music artiste, D’banj may have proved the reports that alleged him of dating the daughter of billionaire oil magnate Alhaji Mohammed Indimi, chairman of Oriental Energy Resources, Adama Indimi.
It was earlier reported that D’banj and Adama dated back in 2012 but eventually went their separate ways. But according to information gathered they rekindled their love few months ago.
Few days ago, D’banj’s mother celebrated her birthday and the family were all gather together, children,in-laws,grandchildren, to celebrate with her and Adama was among the family as she was there to celebrate with them. This raised the question whether the lover birds are back together.
Bishop David Oyedepo of the Living Faith Church aka Winners Chapel, has warned that Nigeria is on the verge of breaking up if some issues are not quickly addressed.
In an interview with Punch, Oyedepo wondered why behind Boko Haram in the country have not been prosecuted by the government. He also expressed sadness that the kidnapped Chibok girls have not been rescued by the government.
He called on churches to be steadfast in their prayers for the country in order for peace to reign in Nigeria.
“I hope that we are willing to find solution to it. I would be the last person in this world to believe that government has not discovered those who are behind Boko Haram. Otherwise, we don’t have any intelligence service in our country. Are they sacred cows that cannot be brought to book?
“Until we cut the source of their supplies and get those who are involved, we cannot stop them. But the danger is this, and I must say it here, we are at the verge of a break up. That is the truth. It’s unfortunate.
“The Nigerian nation is too intelligent to claim not to have discovered those who are behind this. So, I really believe it’s all in the hands of the authorities to decide whether they want to confront the issue headlong or to keep watching it until Nigeria breaks up……
“All that the church can do is to pray. The church is not in power, it has no political power. And when invited, we give advice, when required or called upon. You can’t call someone and say can I advise you?” he said.
Posted By Valentino Godwin
THE Presidency yesterday expressed thanks to God that the perpetrators of Wednesday’s twin bomb blasts targeted at both the former Head of State, General Muhammadu Buhari and an Islamic cleric, Sheik Dahiru Bauchi in Kaduna State, did not achieve their evil motives of killing the two prominent Nigerians, saying that the country would have been set on fire if they had succeeded.
The Special Adviser to President Goodluck Jonathan on Political Matters, Professor Rufai Ahmed Alkali, made this known in Abuja.
This was even as the Defence Headquarters also said that troops were ‘’holding a man suspected to be connected with the explosion targeted at the former Head of State.
The suspected bomber was allegedly dressed in hijab when he was apprehended by military patrol team that swooped on the area immediately after the explosion.’’
Gen Buhari, a leader of the opposition All Progressives Congress, APC, and Sheik Bauchi survived the bomb explosions which led to the untimely death of over 82 innocent Nigerians.
Buhari was on his way to his hometown, Daura, Katsina State when his convoy was attacked at the ever- busy- Kaduna Kawo Motor Park, while Sheik Bauchi was attacked along the Alkali/ Isa Kaita Road, near the Murtala Muhammed Square where he delivered a Ramadan Tatsir Sermon to thousands of the Tijaniyya sect members. The two separate attacks were believed to have been carried out by the Boko Haram Islamic sect.
However, distancing the presidency from the two ugly events, allegedly insinuated by some members of the APC, Alkali said it was wrong to politicise security issues in a bid to score cheap political points.
Speaking during his first official working visit to the secretariat of the Goodluck Support Group, GSG, Alkali said, “I want to express my sincere concern over what happened to our former Head of state, General Muhammadu Buhari. You all recall that two or three days ago, there was an attempted attack on his life and another senior citizen, Sheik Dahiru Bauchi, both in Kaduna.
“It is by the grace of God that today the lives of these two senior citizens were spared. We want to thank God for saving them and for saving this country from the trauma of what could have happened if the people behind it had achieved their objective.
“I want to also state that in seasons like this, the usual thing is what has become the popular culture of blame game. I do not think anybody in this country would be associated with this type of thing in any way or form.
’’Therefore, those who want to trivialize these issues personalize them or attribute it to this government or the leadership of this government in any form, directly or indirectly, should desist from that.
“This government is committed to the security of this nation, it is committed to lasting peace in this country and Mr. President is deeply committed to bringing stability in our political environment.
“We should not over dramatize these issues. All of us must come together, we have collective responsibility to protect and defend our country. This is not a time for politicizing issues. Security matters are not for politicians. There are people who have been trained and who are responsible for security. We cannot do their job for them; they should be allowed to do their job.
“We should also desist from any attempt that will weaken the institutions of government, especially security agencies who are doing very well in containing the situation.”
Alkali who also formally took over as the national Coordinator of GSG following the vacuum created by the exit of the former Political Adviser to the President, Alhaji Ahmed Ali Gulak, said that the country would have been on fire if anything terrible had happened to the two prominent Nigerians and urged politicians to stop the blame game and politicisation of the security challenges facing the country.
He then asked Nigerians irrespective of culture, tribe, region or party affiliation to work collectively if the present security challenges in the country must be overcome, warning that in moments like these, issues of security must not be dramatised.
On the 2015 elections, Alkali predicted a resounding victory for the ruling Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, even as President Jonathan would continue to work for the reform of the electoral process in line with his transformation agenda in the country.
“Only yesterday at a breakfast dinner for ambassadors and senior citizens Mr President assured the international community and Nigerians as a whole that the 2015 election will be free and fair and peaceful,’’ he added.
Troops hold suspected male bomber disguised as a woman
The Defence Headquarters said yesterday that troops were holding a man suspected to be connected with the explosion targeted at General Buhari.
According to a statement by the Military, the suspected bomer was a ‘young man who was apprehended by military patrol team that swooped on the area immediately after the explosion.
He had ‘’disguised as a woman by clading in female garb to exude femininity with a brazier affixed to his chest.
The suspect was arrested while trying to fizzle into a crowd of onlookers when the patrol team arrived the scene.
’’Youths in the area attempted to mob him while he was being arrested but were restrained by troops who quickly whisked him away in an armoured personnel carrier. He is currently being interrogated by security agencies in a bid to ascertain his links.’’
Gsg has offices all over the country
Earlier, the Deputy National Coordinator of GSG, Dr. Eddy Olafeso had told Alkali that the group which has offices in the 36 states of the country, the three senatorial districts and the 774 Local Governments, in the country had ‘’limitless possibilities and had been mobilizing and sensitizing various interest groups in the country on the transformation agenda of President Jonathan.”
Meanwhile, it was gathered that members of the Boko Haram may be after the Islamic Preacher, Bauchi for preaching against their activities. There had been earlier attempts on his life by the insurgents at his Asikolaiye Residence, Badikko, Expressway, Kaduna, but the explosive device planted failed to explode.
Bauchi’s visit to President Jonathan in Abuja along with other clerics was also said to be one of the sources of grudges against him by the inurgents.
Buhari had while recounting his experience when Governor Mukhtar Yero visited him at his Sultan Close residence in Kaduna Thursday said that Nigeria can deal with Boko Haram, adding, “When this question of Boko Haram started, and I am sure it is on record, in the first statement I made about 18 months ago, I said no religion advocates what is happening in the North East. So the case of this kind of killings is not religion; it is also not ethnic.
When they kill children in schools in the North East, they kill teachers, they burn churches, they burn mosques, they burn motor parks, they burn markets — where is religion there? Where is ethnicity there?
This is terrorism and I hope the government will come to grips with it. Nigeria is capable of dealing with this. Some of us died in the civil war for this country. For 30 months we fought and we kept Nigeria one and, God willing, we are going to keep Nigeria one.
“I commiserate with the families of those that died, because this thing was ignited at exactly when my car was almost side by side with that of the bomber. I came out of the car after the bomb went off. There was blood on my dress.
I did not know how it came about because I did not have a scratch myself, but there were dead bodies all over the place.
The security tried to move me to the other side and we just got one of the vehicles passing and they brought me home. I hope the law enforcement agencies and the chief executives of the states will succeed in securing the country. May God help us.”
Posted By Valentino Godwin
Information reaching us reports that troops are holding a man suspected to be connected with the explosion targeted at General Buhari on Wednesday in kaduna state. The young man who was apprehended by military patrol team that swooped on the area immediately after the explosion, had disguised as a woman, clad in female garb to exude femininity with a brazier affixed to his chest.
DailyPost gathered that the suspect was arrested while trying to fizzle into a crowd of onlookers when the patrol team arrived the scene. Youths in the area attempted to mob him while he was being arrested, but were restrained by troops who quickly whisked him away in an armoured personnel carrier.
He is currently being interrogated by security agencies in a bid to ascertain his links.
Posted By Valentino Godwin
SaharaReporters has just confirmed that Mahumd Ibraheem Zakzaky, the son of Sheik Ibraheem Zakzaky, was among those gunned down by Nigerian soldiers in Zaria as a group held a rally in support of Palestinians on Israel’s invasion of Gaza.
Mahmud Zakzaky and a few other demonstrators were killed in the shooting this evening in the ancient town of Zaria.
In a statement issued by Ibrahim Musa, editor of the movement’s weekly magazine Almizan, and sent to the New York office of SaharaReporters, the Islamic group accused the military of killing several of its members with impunity. The statement also claimed that more than 40 other members sustained serious injuries.
“Reports reaching our news desk now indicated that some soldiers of the Nigerian army have opened fire on the tail end of the Quds procession held after Jumaat prayers in Zaria, Kaduna State. The procession, which took off from Sabon Gari Jumaat Mosque, reached Kofar Doka peacefully with no incident. However some soldiers attacked the procession [at the] PZ junction in Zaria.
“They shot Mahmud Ibraheem Zakzaky, but [his body] was taken away by the Muslim brothers. But several [other] Muslim brothers were shot by the security agents.
“As at the time of writing this report, there is no confirmation on the number of Muslim brothers shot or killed by the soldiers, but our says say five people were killed. The Quds procession was held today peacefully in more than 10 Nigerian cities. Why the attack on the Zaria procession?
“[The] latest report on the attack by soldiers on Quds peaceful procession is that ten Muslim brothers were gunned down by the soldiers, among them Mahmud Ibraheem Zakzaky, son of Sheikh Ibraheem Zakzaky, and a Muslim sister with her child on her back. There are over 40 Muslim brothers’ casualties with different degrees of gunshots by the soldiers. The story is still unfolding, with reinforcement of soldiers coming from Kaduna, according to our news sources.”
Posted By Valentino Godwin
The Lagos State Government yesterday confirmed a possible case of Ebola Virus, which is been currently investigated after the death of the 40 year old Liberian, who was a suspect, and a possible 30 others who may have had contact with him.
The Special Adviser to the Lagos State Governor on Public Health, Dr Yewande Adeshina, in a briefing noted that the 40 year old Liberian is in a private hospital in the Obalende area of the State. And that the hospital housing the Liberian has been cordoned off and the victim isolated.
However, there’s the need for all of us, even if you are not in Lagos, to watch out and stay safe. Here are some tips:
WHAT IS EBOLA VIRUS DISEASE?
Ebola virus disease (EVD) or Ebola hemorrhagic fever (EHF) is the human disease caused by ebola viruses. Symptoms start two days to three weeks after contracting the virus with a fever, throat and muscle pains, and headaches. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the disease has a
case fatality rate of up to 90 per cent, this means about 90 per cent of individuals that suffer from the disease could die.
TREATMENT
No vaccine for EVD is available. Several vaccines are being tested, but none are available for clinical use.
TRANSMISSION
Ebola is introduced into the human population through close contact with the blood, secretions, organs or other bodily fluids of infected animals.
Ebola then spreads in the community through human-to-human transmission, with infection resulting from direct contact (through broken skin or mucous membranes) with the blood, secretions, organs or other bodily fluids of infected people, and indirect contact with environments contaminated with such fluids.
Burial ceremonies in which mourners have direct contact with the body of the deceased person can also play a role in the transmission of Ebola.
Men who have recovered from the disease can still transmit the virus through their semen for up to 7 weeks after recovery from illness.
Health-care workers have frequently been infected while treating patients with suspected or confirmed EVD.
PREVENTION:
Wash your hands frequently. As with other infectious diseases, one of the most important preventive measures for Ebola virus is frequent hand-washing. Use soap and water, or use alcohol-based hand rubs containing at least 60 percent alcohol when soap and water aren’t available.
Avoid bush meat. In developing countries, wild animals, including nonhuman primates, are sold in local markets. Avoid buying or eating any of these animals.
Avoid contact with infected people. In particular, caregivers should avoid contact with the person’s body fluids and tissues, including blood, semen, vaginal secretions and saliva. People with Ebola are most contagious in the later stages of the disease.
Follow infection-control procedures. If you’re a health care worker, wear protective clothing — such as gloves, masks, gowns and eye shields. Keep infected people isolated from others. Carefully disinfect and dispose of needles and other instruments. Injection needles and syringes should not be reused.
Don’t handle remains. The bodies of people who have died of Ebola disease are still contagious. Specially organized and trained teams should bury the remains, using appropriate safety equipment.
Avoid traveling to areas of known outbreaks.
Watch out for people with flu-like symptoms and sudden fever.
Those who notice “strange feeling or symptoms similar to those of Ebola virus, which ranges from fever, headache, diarrhea, nausea, vomiting, sore throat and joint pains, which are all symptoms of other ailments, are urged to visit competent health facilities.
In the absence of such facilities, please call the following numbers: 08023169485, 08033086660, 08033065303, 08055281442, 08055329229
Posted By Valentino Godwin
We have seen so many relationship advise columns. We have been served so many ways of recognizing and measuring love.
“he opens car doors for you” “he’s a gentle man around you” “he will want to marry” “he will buy you gifts” “he will not want to hurt your feelings” “he calls you 5 times a day” ” he texts you” bla bla bla.
See, any player or good guy can treat you right. If you are pretty, rich, intelligent, most guys will treat you right. No big deal really. Most men will treat you right until they have gotten what they want from you whether it is sex, one-night stand, side dish, contact, or marriage. In fact, many men show their true colours after marriage. That is why I keep saying this Getting married is a destination, preserving your marriage is a whole new never ending journey entirely! Everything does not automatically become perfect because of that metal on your finger or that piece of paper you signed. In fact, it is only an admission letter into the marriage institution. Whether you pass or fail in that school is a different thing entirely.
These are what I have been able to gather about the love-o-meter of most men.
1. A Man Madly In love Will Marry You ASAP: Now this is a tricky one. Like I mentioned in my last thread, men these days do not necessarily marry because of love. Many marry because they need a wife/help meet for whatever reasons. However when a man really loves you, he marries you because he loves you and not because he needs a wife. The remaining points will help you know if you are going to be a “wife in need” or beloved wife.
2. People Will Tell You He Loves You: When a man is crazy about you, your friends, family members, colleagues, associates, and all who have seen you guys together will tell you. Those who have known him long before you came into his life will ask you “what have you done to him? ” There will be a noticeable change in him that will surprise people. If he as a good guy before you came along, he will be even better with you. If he was a bad guy, he will suddenly melt like butter when he’s with you. There has to be a special factor. Something unusual. Something that will make people marvel.
3. Your Intuition Will Affirm This: Females have powerful intuitions. Always listen to yours. It is hardly ever wrong. If you asked most woman in bad marriages, they’d admit that they always knew something was terribly wrong but naively thought it will get better. You cannot change a man or even make him love you. You can only awaken/re-awaken the feelings already in him.
4. The Fear Of Loosing You Becomes The Beginning Of Wisdom: He can’t stand the thought of you walking out of his life, he’s sure not going to turn into a vegetable but sister, he’s going to do what he can and avoid whatever he must to make sure you stay even if he has to give up his priced bachelorhood.
5. He Will Spend On You…… With Pleasure: A guy will be happy to spend his hard earned cash on you whether or not he gets to sleep with you or even date you. It may not start immediately but after a while especially if he’s trying to see if you are materialistic. Give your man sometime while you prove that you are worth his money.
6. If He Was A Player, He Protects You From His Bad Friends/Crazy Exes, etc.: Normally if you are dating a player or typical bad boy ladies man, his friends will make passes at you, even disrespect you, etc. Other girls will want to fight you, etc. But he will be your knight. He will spell it out to his friends that. “Nna mehn, I am feeling this babe. Dis na my babe.” he will mark you and his friends will understand that perfectly. Other girls will feel intimidated by your presence and will not even dare speak to you not to talk of challenging you.
7. It’s No Longer Sex, It Becomes Love making: He plays you like a Spanish guitar, that’s because he wants to leave his mark on you, he wants you to enjoy it as much as he does. He wants you to feel him. It becomes like an art and not like a romp. A man that loves you doesn’t withdraw immediately after climaxing and doesn’t jump off the bed after the show. He stays a little longer holding you unless if he’s in a hurry to go somewhere important.
After Marriage:
8. He Refers To You And Treats You Like His Better Half: Yes. A man who truly loves you will get even better after marriage. He will give you more than he gives himself, etc. You are his madam in all ramifications even while he protects you with the last drop of his blood.
9. He Doesn’t Make It A Habit To Take Things From You: That’s because he didn’t marry you because of daddy’s wealth or your six-figure salary. He will want to give more than he takes.
10. He Respects Your Opinions: He may not always go by them, but he will respect them. It’s left to you to be able to know how to make him actually act on them. Know how to pull his strings.
11. He Doesn’t Freak Out Or Make Your Life Miserable When The Children Haven’t Started Coming In: There might be occasional awkward moments here and there, but he’s not going to start giving ultimatums, or threats, or cut down on your weekly/monthly money because you haven’t given him a child yet. He will protect you from outside ridicule/pressures, etc.
12. He Doesn’t Put Pressure On You To Get/Retain A Job: That’s because he didn’t get married because he needed a financial partner. He married you because he loves you so he’s not going to treat or see you as a liability if you are not yet working.
Disclaimer: Love is not a bed of roses. Don’t always expect him to be a gentleman. Why should he always open car doors for you? Are you a learner? Even Prince Philips doesn’t open doors for Queen Elizabeth all the time when they are not in public! If he’s a busy man, a top govt official, company senior official, successful businessman, etc. he cannot be calling you everyday. Even if he is a low income earner. BUT he will always make up in ways that will make it all worthwhile. He cannot always call you “honey” “baby” etc. Some days he will call your full name sef “Oluwayemisi come here!” ” Chimbusonma I want to eat” “Nkechiyere don’t waste my time” There will be tough times as well. Times when you will even cry and wonder what you are doing with him, but these points should console you and assure you that you are on the right track.
Cheers!
Posted By Valentino Godwin
Hi,
My name is Dave and I have a little problem I will like you to share wit the house. I’m a graduate but my girlfriend is still in school. We love each other and hope to tie the knot in future.
Last week I and my girlfriend decided to review our relationship and strengthen all the
loose ends by opening up to each other. My girlfriend made a shocking confession that is given me cause to worry. There was this guy that she once told me was on her case some time back. She said the guy was coming very close she once thought of dating the guy alongside me. That the thought of double dating usually creep into her mind but because she loves me so much she always fights it.
My problem now is – if she can actually think of it then she might possibly do it. What should I do because since then I have been finding it difficult to trust her anymore. I
have never cheated on her and the thought of her cheating on me is killing me. Should I still trust her? Isn’t there a possibility she might succumb to that thought and follow it?
Please just advise a brother…yea I know you guys will say I love like a girl but it’s not
my fault. I love this girl and I know she loves me more.
Posted By Valentino Godwin
EBOLA is a killer disease that is transmitted through
body secretions such as blood, sweat, mucous,
saliva, breast secretion, tears, urine, and sexual
transmission with an infected person.
It kills in a very short time but can be prevented.
SIGNS & SYMPTOMS:
Fever,sore throat,headache
s,weakness,joint and muscle pain,chest pain and
bleeding from skin.
PREVENTION:
1. Wash your hands often with soap and water.
2. Be on the look out for warning signs.
3. Avoid contact with people with suspicious signs
and places of outbreak.
4. Avoid environment contaminated with such fluids.
5. Report any case to the nearest hospital.
….SHARE THE MESSAGE
TO REPORT CASES, CALL THE LAGOS STATE
GOVERNMENT ON—-»
08023169485,08033086660,080330
65303,08055281442,08055329229
Posted By Valentino Godwin
*Black box from the Air Algerie plne found.
*Isreal swears in Reuven Rivlin as new president.
*U.S says new evidence shows Russia firing artillery into Ukraine
Posted By Valentino Godwin
Only a handful of Nigerians know that the stage name known as ‘Basketmouth’ used to belong to another comedian other than Bright Okpocha, the comedian popularly known as ‘Basketmouth’. The first comedian to bear the name was Ernest Essien, an Akwa Ibom State-born humour merchant who was on the scene before Bright Akpocha.
He had to change the name ‘Basketmouth’ to ‘MC Miracle’, to avoid clash of identities with Bright Okpocha. Though MC Miracle hit stardom with his landmark mind-blowing joke ‘“Mfon-obong, itoro-obong, ima-obong, ekom-obong, dem go dey bobong bobong bong bong”, but his life has never been the same since changing his name ‘Basketmouth’ to ‘MC Miracle’. Hear his story:
When did you start comedy professionally?
Professionally, I started comedy in 1996 but I have been into comedy for a long time that I cannot even recollect the year.
What brought about your choice of name “Basketmouth”?
Back then, I used to perform at a place called ‘Tag’ in Apapa with the Frontliners Band led by Jah Hanson. So any time we went on recess, I will pick up the microphone to showcase my talent. On one fateful day, when I started cracking jokes a guy just shouted “this guy you be Basketmouth o,”! That was how the name stuck.
Since you started with the name ‘Basketmouth’ but now known as MC Miracle, will you say Basketmouth stole the name from you?
No, he didn’t steal the name. Sometime in 2000-2001, Basketmouth approached me during one of the Plantashun Boiz’s concert at D Den on Isaac John in Ikeja and he introduced himself to me as ‘Basketmouth’ and told me he heard I was also using the name. I was already an established entertainer then so what I saw was a younger brother from Benin with hunger for success in his eyes. There and then, I asked him if he liked the name and his response was in the affirmative. I told him to keep the name so I changed mine. Most of my friends including my wife did not approve of this. They said I sold my birthright to him. Till date, some of my colleagues still call me MC
Did the change in name affect you?
Definitely yes, because I had to begin a rebuilding process, getting to let my clients and fans know about it . It took a lot of time, money and conviction. But since they got used to it, it has been great.
So what is your relationship with Basketmouth?
He is my younger brother who is doing very well for himself. In fact, I feel proud that I allowed him use the name and he has always shown me respect whenever we meet. Way back, we cover up shows for each other. I remember one particular incident when he had to go for an interview at the America embassy to get visa and also had to perform at Pall Mall in Calabar. He called on me and I went to cover up for him. We have a cordial relationship though we hardly see often because of our busy schedules.
Some comedians are making it big while others are not. Why is it so?
Hard work, dedication, tenacity and originality are the secrets to making it. Also the element of God’s favour cannot be overruled. . So there is just a thin line between making it and not making it.
Is being a good comedian all about being funny or is there more to it?
There is more to it. Your character and professionalism counts in this business. You need to see it as a proper profession like a 9-5 job. A comedian has to update him or her self . Above all, you need to be extremely funny with a good delivery skill and stage craftsmanship.
What is your unique selling point?
Spontaneity and music-comedy. I can turn anything I see into a funny song. And that is really my selling point.
What is your relationship like with other comedians?
I have a fantastic relationship with all my colleagues, be it senior or junior. Most of them are all my good friends.
Would you say girls like comedians?
Girls generally love entertainers, the girls and entertainment go hand in hand.
What has been your experience with the opposite sex?
I have a very good and cordial relationship with the opposite sex and I also have a lot of respect for my boundaries. Anyway, everything comes with its territories (laughs).
What has been your most awkward experience as a comedian?
2006, when I got the franchise for ‘Nite of a Thousand Laughs’ in Uyo. We had a full hall that made even Opa Williams embrace me. After the show and it was time to count our gate-takings, we found we realized only N720, 000 after spending over N2.5m to package the show. It was then I realised that the security guys at the gate fed on my ignorance because that was my first major show .
Have you ever gone blank on stage?
Yes, in fact severally.
So how did you manage it?
When it happened , I had to pick on someone among the audience to do some wisecracks and I was fine. Once you can get laughter from the audience as a comedian, your confidence returns and soars. But no matter what, a professional comedian will not just stop or act blank in front of his audience.
Is it true that comedians make more money than other entertainers?
We all make money but I can’t say who makes more money. Comedy is a one-man show with few expenses but musicians have to pay their band, dancers etc. So it depends on who the client is and how much he is willing to pay.
Anything new for your fans?
Yes, I am working on a 3 in 1 album tagged “Me, Myself n I”. It will showcase me as a full entertainer. A singer, stand-up comedian and a music-comedian. It will be an all-round package. Also I am currently working on a movie with Joke Silva, and a soap opera in the making. Many things in my plate.
How would you rate yourself ?
I am the best there is, the originator and no imitator.
Posted By Valentino Godwin
Mo Farah is the latest big name to pull out of the Commonwealth Games
Double Olympic gold medallist Mo Farah has withdrawn from the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow after failing to recover from a recent illness.
Farah, 31, won the 5,000m and 10,000m at London 2012 and was set to run both distances in Scotland.
However, he has decided to stay at his training camp to be fit for August’s European Championships in Zurich.
The Team England athlete said it was a “tough decision”, adding: “The sickness I had two weeks ago was a big setback.”
Big names missing from Glasgow 2014
Yohan Blake (Jamaica) – Ex-world 100m champion- hamstring operation
Mark Cavendish (Isle of Man) – Ex-world champion cyclist – shoulder injury
Dwain Chambers (England) – British 100m champion – Euro focus
Jessica Ennis-Hill (England) – Olympic heptathlon champion – had a baby
Mo Farah (England) – Olympic 5,000m & 10,000m champion – illness
Becky James (Wales) – Two-time world champion cyclist – knee injury
Katarina Johnson-Thompson (England) – Heptathlon star – foot injury
Asafa Powell (Jamaica) – Ex-world 100m record holder – banned
He added: “Training is getting better but I need another few weeks to get back to the level I was at in 2012 and 2013.
“I really wanted to add the Commonwealth titles to my Olympic and World Championships, but the event is coming a few weeks too soon for me.
“My body is telling me it’s not ready to race yet.”
Farah’s decision is another setback to the Games after a number of key withdrawals in athletics events.
Former world 100m champion Yohan Blake of Jamaica was ruled out because he needed a hamstring operation and England’s Katarina Johnson-Thompson withdrew from the women’s heptathlon on Monday with a foot injury.
In March, Mo Farah collapsed after completing the New York City Half Marathon
Farah had missed the Diamond League meeting in Glasgow earlier this month because of illness but had been confident of appearing, saying that “training was going good”.
Team England Chef de Mission Jan Paterson said: “It is a real blow for any athlete to miss out on a major championships through injury, but to have fought so hard to regain full fitness and to have to take such a difficult decision is particularly hard.”
BBC Sport athletics pundit Steve Cram said: “It’s hugely disappointing for Mo and the event. We knew he had been struggling. He’s just run out of time to be in shape and I was really hoping he would have run the 10,000m at least.
“Running the marathon earlier in the year has upset his normal pattern and had an impact on his summer.”
Cram, who twice claimed Commonwealth Games 1500m gold and won the 800m in Edinburgh in 1986, believes Farah would have only raced in Scotland if he were 100% fit.
“He knows how hard the 5,000m and 10,000m are going to be here, so he didn’t want to put himself at risk of not winning,” added Cram.
“It’s not like the Europeans, where the competition is not particularly strong. He would not have wanted to come here and not be at his best, but he’ll be a big miss.”
Glasgow 2014 chief executive David Grevemberg also admitted Farah’s absence was a blow.
He said: “There’s no question we’re disappointed that Mo Farah announced he would be withdrawing. We’re very disappointed for Mo. We knew how much he wanted to be here.
“I’m sure there will be some disappointed people, but there are plenty of great athletes who are here and will be competing.”
Posted By Valentino Godwin
Oscar Pistorius has apologized for killing his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp in his initial statement today as he took the stand for the first time in his murder trial in South Africa. The Olympian told Steenkamp’s mother June, who showed no emotion at the double-amputee’s concession:
There hasn’t been a moment since this tragedy happened that I haven’t thought about your family. I wake up every morning and you’re the first people I think of, the first people I pray for … I was simply trying to protect Reeva. I can promise that when she went to bed that night she felt loved.”
In his testimony, Pistorius, 27, said he’s been haunted by the “smell of blood” in nightmares since the Feb. 14, 2013 incident, which he claims his mistake, as he thought the model-reality star was an intruder. He also said he’s been taking anti-depressants and sleep-deprived since the shooting, citing one incident in which he began to panic.
“I climbed into a cupboard and I phoned my sister to come and sit by me, which she did for a while.”
Should Pistorius be convicted of premeditated murder, he could be sentenced up to life with a 25-year minimum sentence. If convicted of murder, he could face up to 15 years in custody. With no jury trials in South Africa, his fate rests in the hands of Judge Thokozile Masipa.
Posted By Valentino Godwin
Nyanya bomb blast suspect, Aminu Sadiq Ogwuche who was recently extradited from Sudan, and currently answering questions from security operatives has said, he will never beg for forgiveness because he did the right thing by bombing Nyanya motor park which led to the death of over 70 people and left 120 injured.
Sadiq said if left alone he is willing to do more. He said a lot of shocking things which will make you wonder how a man that once lived in a western world could turn out to be who he is now. No be me go use my hand type all his negative beliefs. Find it as culled (quotes) from National Daily after the cut.
“I don’t deny that I am the executioner of the Nyanya bomb incident. I did it in order to draw government’s attention to our demands. We want our detained colleagues released and compensation paid to those of our colleagues who were killed by the federal troops during operations. We want Islamic rule in the whole of northern Nigeria. Western education is a sin against Allah. It’s time for dialogue between government and Boko Haram leaders for the way out of the deadlock,” he was quoted as saying.
“The government must do something now or the bombing will continue. There is no regretting anything because we are fighting a just cause to liberate our people from western education and religion,”
“Federal government has been trying without success to wipe out Boko Haram. They killed our leader, Muhammed Yusuf and hundreds of others yet we still exist. We are a force to be recognized. You ignore us at your own peril. We are particularly pained by the killing of hundreds of our members across the forest in northern part of the country. Although we equally killed federal troops, we will never forgive the federal government for the incessant killings. We are well armed to fight back and we will never surrender.
Boko Haram is well funded and highly equipped organization with capacity to take over the whole country if it so desires, he ranted.
“If I am left alone, I will still kill those infidels who have refused to repent of their sins against Allah. This is my mission on earth. My mission is to wipe out infidels from the face of the earth. You call me bomb detonator, and I love that. I am ready to kill again. In fact, I enjoy killing people who are unbelievers; those deceived by western education and disobedient to Allah and his holy Koran.
I don’t care what will happen to me now because if I die, I shall go to heaven for doing god’s work. I won’t beg anybody for forgiveness but I can assure you that my so called trial will not be an easy exercise. If I like, I plead not guilty in court to make things difficult for the federal government but inside my mind, I know I did the damn thing. It is my word against federal government evidence. I know a little bit about the intricacies of the law through the study of several law books. Nobody can push me around because I am not a fool,” said Ogwuche who was born in the United Kingdom.
Posted By Valentino Godwin
Goldpillars Academy is an arm of the events management company Goldpillars Event Professionals.
The academy’s vision is to deliver 500 skilled businesses every year; hence this explains their reason for training programmes in all event services, targeted at young, vibrant and interested persons.
Their promise is to ensure that we guide through every form of professional mentorship, the skills delivered to our trainees to become start ups and at the end of the day thriving business that would ultimately add up to the development of the Nigerian economy.
Their current training is an intensive facial make-up training intended to deliver a new breed of make up artistes in 2014. Its an Intensive make Up Course and You get The learn The Following.
– Introduction To Facial make-Up
– Foundation principle/Color analysis
– bridal/fashion/Runway Makeup
– Contouring and highlighting
– GELE TYING
– ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND BUSINESS MANAGEMENT
……. and many More….
Dates: August 2nd – 10th
Schedule: Weekdays: 4th – 8th
(9am-1pm or 2pm-6pm)
Weekends: 2nd, 3rd, 9th and 10th
(1pm – 5pm daily).
For registrations further details and participation: contact the following:
Ife: 07084395016
Nene: 09022202032
Bbm: 2836E831
Or follow @ifegoldpillars on twitter for details
Or mail goldpillars.ep1@gmail.com
Posted By Valentino Godwin
A 42-year- old housewife in Asaba, Delta State, simply identified as Monica (surname withheld) on Sunday threw caution to the wind when she engaged her 17 year-old daughter in a fight for allegedly snatching her boyfriend.
Leadership reports that their fight drew attention as a crowd gathered to watch them on a popular busy road around St. Brigid’s Girls College, Asaba, Sunday afternoon. The mother was alleged to have snatched the daughter’s boyfriend, who works in one of the oil companies in Warri. The daughter became very furious when she heard that her boyfriend was caught pants down with her mother in an hotel in the state. The trouble between the mother and her daughter became aggravated when the lover boy began to act in a strange manner towards the girl.
During the public fight, the daughter was said to have called the mother a shameless woman and a prostitute, who drove the father out of the house with her unbridled quest for sex.
Speaking to the Leadership correspondent at the scene, a relation of the woman, who did not want her name in the print, blamed the situation on her sister, whom she said disappointed women folk, especially mothers.
Posted By Valentino Godwin
Sometimes we tend to ask God questions on why certain things are happening to us. Being the human that we are, we just cannot understand the supernaturalism of God. Job was a devoted son of God, yet God allowed the devil to test his faith and belief in God, although the test came with an exception, the devil must not tamper with Job’s soul. After losing much of his belongings and assets and even lost his children and wives, he NEVER grumbled nor murmur neither did he ask God questions. If it were to be us, we would had started reminding God how faithful we are(like He doesn’t know),we would had told God the countless people we had helped(like He doesn’t see),we would had called his attention to how much we pay as offering every Sunday and how we don’t default in paying our tithes. Some people will even tell God of how they helped the church, clothed the pastor, fed his family and how active they are in church activities and next is “God after all this, WHY is all this calamities befalling me?”
In whatever situation you find yourself, the best way to come out of it proud is to NEVER question God, instead look for reasons and ways to THANK Him. Appreciating God shames the devil and glorifies God. A school student is surely going to have a test or examination to move into a greater class, so also as a believer, your FAITH is subject to test. You might have been so faithful to God and just fall off His zone because you questioned Him in time of trial or temptation. Even Jesus was tempted on the mount by the devil.
Students read textbooks and notebooks to pass their examinations, now you must be wondering what to do so has to know and pass temptations when any arise? READ and UNDERSTAND the Bible which is God’s holy book. There you would find out all about His promises for you, what he expects and what you should do. Also be ACTIVE in prayer and NEVER doubt God’s word.
As you countdown into 2015, whatever your soul desires, so shall it be given unto you through Christ our Lord.
NEVER ASK GOD WHY? ALWAYS THANK HIM
HAPPY NEW YEAR
‘’After all the days, weeks and months of work, during which most times we disagree, most times we even fight, I deemed it fit to take the burden on me and organize this get-together, we had a great 2014 and each and every one of you has in no small way been a part of the success story and that’s why we are here today in a bid to prepare for a better 2015’’
This were the words by the MD/CEO Fastlink Phones and Gadgets, Ijebu Ode as his opening presentation to start off the 2014 Retreat held at the conference hall of serene edifice of Equity Resort and Hotel, Ijebu Ode.
It was a surprise one from the MD, Mr Kazeem Abiodun M. as no one saw this coming. As Dhizzkid Blog had the opportunity to talk to some staffs who were in one way or the other motivated by an array of knowledge they inquired from various speakers at the retreat. They also showered praises on the MD for such an innovative idea and from the looks on the smiling faces, one couldn’t but accept the fact that they were treated to some nice menu after the meeting as they are also morally ready for the 2015 working year.
Ok, now here we go why I’m I doing is? As I know that question is popping in your head. If you are a Sales person, a business person or you just want to learn some hints on sales and customer relation then you just need to read through the excerpt of what the speakers offered
WHAT ARE SELLING SKILLS?
Selling is about focusing on the customers and their needs and wants, helping the find solutions to their problems8
It is not about pressuring them to buy your product
It’s about listening to them
Have two ears and one mouth
OBJECTIVES OF SELLING SKILLS
Recognize the difference between features and benefits of products and services and develop a plan for increasing product knowledge
Understand the power of your behavior for more successful sales and customer service
Develop communication skills to share better information and to better listen to customer
Recognize opportunities for both individual and team
IMPORTANCE OF SELLING SKILLS TO MANAGERS
Competition is very high so, it’s important for a manager to have selling skills to create a different method
Everyone is selling same product so, we need to have a selling point of difference
Creating reputation in the minds of customers so that we can have new customers
HOW TO ACQUIRE SELLING SKILLS
Develop building self-confidence routine
One should be a good listener
Persuasiveness “feature tells, benefits sell”
Building strong relationship
Self-motivating
EFFECTS OF SELLING SKILLS
Enormous sales growth
HANDLING OBJECTIONS FROM CUSTOMERS
Objection handling is managing the response from potential customer who is saying “NO”
5 STEPS TO CLOSE ON AN OBJECTION
Show understanding but don’t agree
Clarify the objection
Convert the objection into questions
Answer the objections in form of a question
Trial close
QUALITIES WHICH SUCCESSFUL SALES PEOPLE CONSIDERED VERY IMOORTANT TO THEIR SUCCESS
APPEARANCE: Dressing
MANNERS: Smile, Handshake
ATTITUDE: Be natural, enthusiasm, confidence
YOUR SERVIVCES TO CUSTOMERS
Repeat orders are assured by good services
Sell product together with solutions, services
KNOW YOUR CUSTOMERS
He likes compliments-so give him
He wants respect-show him openly
He wants ways to make his job easier-give him good service
He like to talk about things that interest him-find out an d talk about it
Find out his hobbies-talk about it
Find out about his family-take note
Find out his birthday and anniversary-send him cards
Find out what motivates him to buy-do that every time you service him
He only buys from sales people he likes-make him like you
ABOUT YOURSELF
The last attribute is a desire to earn as much as you can and a willingness to work hard to earn it
N:B There is no shortcut to success, this plus is a strong faith in your ability, will provide the incentive you need to be classified as a PROFESSIONAL SALES P
ERSON.
“In order to achieve, we must believe we can”
CUSTOMER FEEDBACK
“Someone is sitting under the shade today because someone planted a tree some time ago”
To be a good sales person, you must
Be determined
Believe in yourself
Always say “ I CAN’
Don’t betray the trust
Yea, not also forgeting that presentation by Opeyemi Balogun, got into the MD’s pocket and made other staffs laugh.
HAPPY NEW YEAR
If you’ve never been in a relationship before than it’s no surprise that you wouldn’t know what to do. But don’t panic, being in romantic relationships can be very rewarding and you might actually enjoy it compared to dating and one night stands. However like everything else being in a relationship has its problems.
The way to enjoy a relationship is to try to avoid as many of these problems as possible. And when you can’t you have to be willing to work things out in order to salvage your relationship instead of just deciding that things are not working out at the first sign of trouble.
Romantic relationships can work but you have to put effort into making it work. The first thing to remember is that when you are in a relationship, it involves two people. And the most important thing you need to do in a relationship is to compromise. Learn that you can’t always have your way, but you have to know when to put your foot down. Giving and taking is part of life and is crucial to keeping a relationship successful. As a man it is vital that you figure out when you need to give. Over giving is a turn off because women will start to view you as a pushover. So just like dating, remember to be nice but not too nice.
Women also love men who are thoughtful so making dinner arrangements, surprising her with dates and romantic gifts also help keep the relationship afloat. Again you can’t do this too often or she will come to expect it. Worse she will assume that you’ve done something wrong and you would have created problems for yourself when nothing was wrong with your relationship in the first place.
The next part of maintaining romantic relationships comes from communicating with your partner. You have to understand that women and men communicate differently. A lot of relationship problems actually occur because of simple misunderstandings when the couples are unable to communicate with one another. Take the time to understand your partner and how she is feeling (especially when she is emotional and needs time to calm down). I’m not saying that you need to take the emotional rubbish that women dish out but you have to try to understand where she is coming from and deal with it appropriately and not just slam the door on your way out.
Of course the biggest problem that relationships deal with are jealousy and betrayal. It would help greatly if neither your or your girlfriend are cheating types of course. As for jealousy if your girlfriend is the jealous type, either dump her if you can’t deal with that, or work out an arrangement with her. Get her to understand that woman A is just a close friend or colleague and nothing more. If you have jealousy issues you might want to meet up with her guy friend and who knows, you could be best of friends. But if that doesn’t work out, the best way to deal with it is to try to get over the jealousy issue because if you continue to harp at it your relationship will fail and that guy would have won.
Romantic relationships will come across problems. This is normal and the only way for you to ensure that you can maintain your relationship is to avoid as many of them as you can is to not give up on it. If you don’t think you can commit to a relationship then its better not to get into one at all because it will come with a whole bunch of problems that you might not have been ready to face.
Communication skills are critical for building healthy relationships, especially when one realizes that one of the most common causes of relational breakdown is a lack of communication. Just as communication can be the most important part of a relationship; arguments can be the most destructive aspect – the closer we are to someone, the more easily we can bruise or be bruised. There is very little truth in the saying: “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words can never harm me.” It’s not what we say, but rather how we say it, that most often hurts another person.
Do you identify with any of these statements?
“He never listens to me when I talk!”
“She talks and talks, but never actually says anything!”
“It’s like talking to a brick wall”
“I can’t get through to you”
“We can’t talk about anything important without getting into a fight”
“She’s too emotional – she’s either crying or shouting or complaining. It’s easier to avoid her”
“He always gets defensive when I try to talk about issues”
Communication is a complex process; of which speaking only makes up for 10-20%. The other 80-90% is made up by facial expressions, body language, tone of voice, etc.
Communication is the art/ science of transferring a thought/ idea/ information from the mind of one complex human being to the mind of one or more complex human being(s). For communication to be effective, it must be a two-way process.
Dynamics of Interpersonal Communication
1. Facts: are both people communicating about the same set of facts? Try to separate the facts from thoughts or feelings.
2. Interpretations, Thoughts or Perceptions: Each person interprets a fact differently based on their belief system, personality, values and experience.
3. Feelings: how we are feeling, our current mood and frame of mind, etc can sub-consciously affect decisions and thoughts.
4. Intentions, Needs or Wants: hidden agendas; are we looking for comfort, clarification, information or simply a chance to interact? We judge ourselves on our intentions.
5. Actions: choice of words (is the intent to create harm?) + tone of voice + non-verbal speech = body language, posture, eye contact, facial expressions, etc.
“The medium is the message” => the way the message is delivered is the message itself.
6. Self: The communication centre, which includes the issue, topic or conflict at hand, has been “filtered” by the facts, interpretations, thoughts, feelings, intentions, and choices of behaviour / actions.
Listening and Feedback
Did I say what I meant to say? – Invite feedback to clarify communication.
Someone who’s not listening lets their mind drift and is already preparing the next argument or opposing thought; inaccurate feedback or limited eye contact.
Listening is an active, not a passive process. When two people argue, they only hear “what they want to hear”, not what’s actually said. This equates to the accusation of “not listening”. Most couples start arguing and within 5 minutes are arguing about the way they are arguing.
Don’t argue when you’re angry – you will not be able to listen objectively. Give yourself time to cool down and then broach the subject when you are in a more reasonable frame of mind.
It’s important to give feedback – checking and confirming. Did I understand you correctly? Is this what you mean? I heard you say this: am I right? Feedback can be verbal / non-verbal e.g. a nod, smile, silence or a cold shoulder. No feedback is in itself a form of feedback.
If the words and actions contradict each other, it is better to believe the actions!
Conflict Resolution
Conflict resolution can either be Constructive or Destructive.
Destructive Style – hinders or inhibits the conflict resolution process:
Confrontational (win or lose, blaming)
Sabotage (focus on weak points, shaming)
Manipulation (blackmail, withdrawal)
Giving in (passive, submissive)
Avoidance (denial, withdrawal)
Constructive Style – trying to minimize the issues and avoiding the difficulties in resolving the problems:
Compromise (meet halfway, understanding)
Accommodate (open discussion, communication without confrontation)
Partnership (solutions, forgiveness, honesty)
When trying to resolve conflicts, try to clarify your goals, as you will probably share many of the same goals despite of your differences. Avoid bargaining, as this may lead to each party taking a rigid position which in turn can flare tempers.
When resolving conflicts, remember that their causes may run deep. Sweeping issues under the carpet isn’t going to work in the long term, as old baggage will be brought up each time an argument starts. Try to fully resolve each issue as it comes along. You may find the following method useful:
1. Ask the other person for their feelings. Your conflict probably isn’t about the issue that caused it to start in the first place. Don’t forget that your goal is sorting out the problem, not winning an argument!
2. Ask the other person to define the problem. Stick to solving one problem at a time, that way you can understand each problem as the other person sees it.
3. Express your own feelings. Be careful to word them carefully, for example use phrases such as “I feel…” rather than “I think you…”
4. Define the problem as you see it. As your feelings come out, the solution may become clearer. Remember that by you listening to the other person; you will have set the tone for them to listen to you.
5. Create multiple solutions. Don’t go back to your original agenda. Aim to find alternative or creative solutions that reduce emotions and tension.
6. Rate the possible solutions. Remember that no one can force an unacceptable solution on the other.
7. Combine and create a mutually acceptable solution. Create something acceptable to both parties, if this doesn’t work – go back to step 1 and ensure both parties are being totally honest.
8. Be sure both parties agree to work towards resolving the issue.
Troubleshooting For Problems in Communication
Control or Power Issues: Effective communication cannot take place if one person has “control” over the other or where there is not mutual respect and equality of relationship. To stay in control leads to relational isolation as the underdog reacts in anger at being manipulated or belittled.
Triangulation: Do not bring in a third party to avoid direct confrontation. If you have a problem with someone, go directly to that person. Don’t dump your accusations on mutual friends or your children in the hope of winning support to balance the scales in your favour – it leads to more substantial and long-lasting damage, especially when a child is used as a weapon between parents.
19 Steps to Effective Communication
1. See communication as an opportunity to praise, build-up, affirm, heal, support and give positive reinforcement, rather than to correct, criticise, tear down, hurt, wound, lash out at. Praise opens doors to further communication, while criticism shuts them down.
2. Remember that actions speak louder than words; non-verbal communication usually is more powerful than verbal communication. Avoid double messages in which the verbal and the non-verbal messages convey something contradictory. (Credibility gap)
3. Define what is important and stress it; define what is unimportant and de-emphasise or ignore it. Avoid fault-finding.
4. Communicate in ways that show respect for the other person’s worth as a human being. “Avoid statements which begin with the words “You never …” or “I think you …”.
5. Be clear and specific in your communication. Avoid vagueness.
6. Be realistic and reasonable in your statements. Avoid exaggeration and sentences which begin with “You always …”
7. Test all your assumptions verbally by asking if they are accurate. Avoid acting until this is done.
8. Recognize that each event can be seen from different points of view. Avoid assuming that other people see things like you do. (Perception)
9. Recognize that your family members and close friends are experts on you and your behaviour. Avoid the tendency to deny their observations about you – especially if you are not sure.
10. Recognize that disagreement can be a meaningful form of communication. Avoid destructive arguments.
11. Be honest and open about your feelings and viewpoints. Bring up all significant problems even if you are afraid that doing so will disturb another person. Speak the truth in love. Avoid sullen silences.
12. Do not put down and/or manipulate the other person with tactics such as ridicule, interrupting, name-calling, changing the subject, blaming, bugging, sarcasm, criticism, pouting, guilt-inducing, etc. Avoid the one-upmanship game.
13. Be more concerned about how your communication affects others than about what you intended. Avoid getting bitter if you are misunderstood.
14. Accept all feelings and try to understand why others feel and act as they do. Avoid the tendency to say, “you shouldn’t feel like that.”
15. Be tactful considerate and courteous. Avoid taking advantage of the other person’s feelings.
16. Ask questions and listen carefully. Avoid preaching or lecturing.
17. Do not use excuses. Avoid falling for the excuses of others.
18. Speak kindly politely and softly. Avoid nagging yelling or whining.
19. Recognize the value of humor and seriousness. Avoid destructive teasing.
Summary
As you look ahead to new relationships, you need to be able to break old and faulty communication patterns to allow for healthier interaction. The use of praise and positive reinforcement will reconstruct wounded and broken self-images and will build self-esteem, particularly in children. By becoming an effective communicator, you will also grow and become a better person which will positively enhance all your relationships.
He painted his stand, he delivered a good article, he put up bright signs along the road which almost conveyed the aroma of his sandwiches. He made his merchandise so delicious that people who ‘had no money’, would stop and buy his food.
The old man worked hard and sent his boy to college. There the boy took courses in economics and learned how bad things were. When he came home for Christmas and noticed the thriving business, he went to his father and said, “Pop, something’s wrong around here. You shouldn’t be as successful as you are. Why, you act as if you didn’t know there was a depression on!”
And he told his father all about the depression, and how people were retrenching everywhere. As the father began to think it over and look around him,and listen to the negative thoughts, he said to himself, “Maybe I’d better not repaint my stand this year. I’d better save my money because there’s a depression. And I’d better cut down on the amount of hamburger I put in these sandwiches. And what’s the use of putting signs if nobody has any money.” And so he stopped all positive efforts.
The result? Business soon fell off. When the boy came back for Easter vacation the father told him, “Son, I want to thank you for the information you gave me about the depression. It’s absolutely true. I feel it in my business. A college education, son, is a wonderful thing.”
That is what happens when negative thinking gets lodged in our minds. Such thought should be drained out constantly. You should start your day right mentally and it will continue right.
Too often, there are many negative thoughts in our life. People don’t really understand the nature of positive thinking. A positive thinker does not refuse to recognize the negative, he refuses to dwell on it. Positive thinking is a form of thought which habitually looks for the best results from the worst conditions. It is possible to look for something to build on, it is possible to expect the best for yourself even though things look bad. And the remarkable fact is that when you seek good, you are very likely to find it.
Sometimes you just have to ignore what other people has to say. Just like what Sam Walton did. If you want to learn Sam Walton’s success principles, read this post of mine, Sam Walton’s Wal-Mart Philosophy.
“Go the other way. Ignore the conventional wisdom. If everybody else is doing it one way, there is a good chance you can find your niche by going in exactly the opposite direction. But be prepared for a lot of folks to wave you down and tell you that you are headed the wrong way. I guess in all my years, what I heard more often than anything else was: a town of less than 50,000 population cannot support a discount store for very long.” Sam Walton.
So if you’ve decided to go for it, just do it. Don’t think that don’t hesitate. The more you think the more negative thoughts you will discover and the harder for you to move on. Sometimes when an idea was born in your mind, just do it. Of course you need to plan it, but don’t “over-plan” it.
Too much of planning will cause stagnation. After all, the only way to get results and reach your destination is to take action. This is one of the success strategies that most people never really care about. This is because it is so common that most people underestimate the power of taking action.
The longer you dwell on an idea yet to take action, the more negative thoughts are going to fill your mind. So start to practice positive thinking start from today. Here is an interesting article regarding positive thinking and how you can adopt this habit in your life,The Magic Of Positive Thinking. It is a great article that I strongly recommend everyone to read it.
Positive thinking is not magic, it is not a voodoo kind of stuff, it is a science. This is because when you think positively, you will act positively, and hence, every decision you make will yield positive results. Learn to be an optimistic start from now on.
No matter what happens in your life, just think positively. This is the success strategies that you will need to pave your path to success.
The main difference between ordinary and extraordinary people is the thinking. The way rich and successful people think will be totally different from normal people. It is because of the way they think differently, they therefore act differently. And because they act differently, they get different results than most people.
This is how great people are able to create amazing results in their lives. You can do the same if you want to, start by thinking like a successful person. Here are 10 ways of thinking that you can adopt right away…
Are you thinking from the bright side? Do you know that there is no good news or bad news? It all depends on how you look at things. If your client is late for the appointment to meet up with you, you can think of it from both positive and negative side. You can think negative that your client is not serious and might not even show up after that.
Or you can just change your thinking. Think positively and brightly. Your client might stuck in the traffic congestion but still wanted to meet you because your client is serious. It is up to you how you think.
There are always two sides to everything. And there is no right or wrong. As long as your thinking is helping you in getting what you want, then it will be a constructive thinking. If the way you think is not helping you in achieving what you want in life, throw that thinking away and change your thoughts now.
You are the products of your thoughts. Take 1 minute to ponder about this question right now, “What are you thinking most of the time?”
Be honest and put some thought into the question. What do you think about most of the time? Most people will think about what movie to watch, which drama to chase, what games to play, what to eat for dinner and what to do.
If this is what you think about most of the time, you will do something related to your thoughts. You will end up eating what you think about most of the time. You will end up watching the movie or the drama you wish. You will also end up playing the games you desire.
So you see, it is what you think, and so you become. Now, what do you think Donald Trump will think about most of the time? Or maybe what Warren Buffett thinks about most of the time? They think about their business and their dreams most of the time. And this is what makes them who they are today.
Great people think about great thoughts. They think about their wild dreams and their bold goals. They get excited and they feel driven. And when they feel motivated, they will take action. You will become what you think about most of the time.
So, think about your dreams and the goals you want to accomplish more often from now on. Set goals and review them daily.
Learn to set empowering goals like a winner with my Goal Setting Formula.
They say opportunities are everywhere, do you agree? Some people said that economy is soft and doing business is difficult, do you think so? If you think that it is difficult to build a business, then it will be difficult.
The point is that you must first believe it, only then you can see it. It is NOT ‘seeing is believing’, instead, you must first believe in it only then you will be able to see it. If you can’t see opportunities, it is because you are not “train” to see them.
Opportunities are everywhere. If you train your mind to see them, they are everywhere. Just like what Harv Eker has to say, you don’t see electricity, but you believe it exists and you pay your electricity bills each month.
The same goes for opportunities. You must first believe that they are everywhere, and then think deeply to see it.
What do you do if you failed to achieve what want? Do you give up or do you learn from your failures?
Successful people will never look at failures as failures. They will treat failures as lessons to be learned. They then improve their strategies and take even more action once again. They will continue to come back and achieve much more.
A winner will never win and a winner will never quit. If you cannot stand failures, you will never be successful. Those who are successful fail more than ordinary people because they tried many times and dare to fail.
So never be afraid to fail. In fact, failure is what makes you more successful because you learned the lesson and know what works and what don’t. And if you continue to persist on it, you will eventually hit the gold mine.
Don’t just dream about what you want, do something about it. Success is all about taking action. If purely dreaming and thinking about what you want can make you successful, all of us will be successful already.
It is action that separates the ordinary and the extraordinary. As the word suggest, EXTRAordinary – you do something EXTRA than ordinary people in order to become extraordinary.
Don’t you think that successful people are always in motion? They can’t wait to take action because they are doing what they love. And because of their strong passion, they are always looking forward to take massive action.
Conversely, ordinary people don’t like what they do, and thus, they don’t like to take action because it is not what they like to do. Learn How To Develop Passion For Success And Everything You Do In Life.
Do you know that successful people think bold and they dare to think about extraordinary things? Just like Richard Branson, he was stranded in Virgin Island because his flight was delayed. However, he saw it as an opportunity. He charted a plane and sold tickets to those who were stranded there. And this is how Virgin Airline started.
They dare to think and they think about extraordinarily thoughts that most normal people will never really think about. You have to think out of the box to be unique. If everyone tells you that what you want is impossible to achieve, way to go, you’re onto something.
Just like what Arnold Schwarzenegger said, if no one has ever done it before, and if he did it, he will be the first one to do it. How’s that for an achievement?
Do you know that great people think about other great people and how other great people achieved their amazing results? Stop spending your time to think small and on little things that don’t really count in your life.
Life is short, so spend your time on things that really matter to you. If you think about other negative people, how they think about you, what they are doing, etc, you will never go far in your life.
It is when you admire other successful people; you will want to be like them. And when you want to be like them and you decide to never be the same anymore, it is the time when you change your life. You can admire other successful people, but never worship them.
Learn their experience, their strategies and adopt their mental blueprint, but never worship them, because you are much better than them, 
Are you still thinking about what someone did to you in the past? Sometimes we just can’t get ahead because we’re stuck in the past. We think about our past and thought that it is our past that defines us.
Never let your past drag you and limit your achievement. We all can come from all kind of backgrounds, but what has happened was history and we can’t change it. What we can do right now is to dream and plan for a better future, and act on it.
If you have failed in school, it doesn’t mean anything except that you did not work hard with your studies. Hence, what you need to do is to work harder right now so you can make sure you won’t fail again in your career.
Never let your past drag you and limit you. You should prove yourself and go beyond your past. Move into the future by starting to act in the present.
Are you thinking big? One very simple test to see if you’re thinking big is by asking this question, “Are your dreams and goals excite you to take action?”
If your answer is a no or if you don’t feel motivated with your dreams and goals, perhaps you don’t dream big enough and they don’t excite you. You have to understand that our motivation comes from within, and if you cannot call forth for your inner drive, it will be difficult to stay active and take action every day.
This is another common reason people fail to accomplish outstanding results in life. They don’t feel motivated and thus, not taking any action. Great people are able to take massive and consistent action because their dreams drive them and goals give them the motivation to act.
So are your dreams big enough and exciting enough?
Great people always believe in themselves, that is why they dare to jump into a new exciting venture when possible. If you don’t trust yourself that you are worthy enough, you will live in mediocrity.
The biggest challenge in life is to think that you are not worthy and you don’t believe you can achieve great success in life. Every one of us is meant to shine and to achieve something epic in life. You are a miracle from the moment you were born.
Nick was born limbless, but with a strong determination, he decided to go all out and go against all odds. He truly believes in himself and now, he is living his dream life as a motivational speaker that touches thousands of people’s lives.
Whether you think you can or you can’t, you are always righ
Everybody wants to be rich, but not every one of us is rich. And you can discover the main reason within this article. You will discover the 7 critical reasons why most people are not rich.
If you truly desire to be rich and successful, the first thing you need to do is to invest in yourself. You already have everything you need to reach the dreams you want and to live the life you desire.
Let me ask you this question, “what are the differences between you and Donald Trump that make him so rich and successful?”
Both you and him has got the same physical body, and the only different between you and him is will be the thought patterns, or simply, the mindset.
It is his mindset that makes him decides to take on the deal. It is his mindset that makes him to take massive action and go through all the ups and downs. It is his mindset that shape who he is today. It is his mindset that makes him network with other influential people. It is his mindset that makes him a billionaire today.
Therefore, if you want to get rich and live the successful life you always dream about, you have tostart from yourself. If you want to change your outer world, change your inner world. If you want to be a millionaire, adopt the millionaire mindset.
When you change the way you think, you will change the way you act and thus changing the results you get. So start to adopt the millionaire mindset and do things differently than ordinary people. Below are the 7 critical points that separate you from the rich…
Most people think the other way round, they thought that rich people spend like crazy and people who are broke don’t spend a dime. To be honest, people who are broke are the ones that spend the most. Those who have successfully accumulated their wealth understand that it takes hard work and sacrifices to get there, thus they won’t simply spend.
And those who simply spend, it is either they wanted to show off or they just don’t understand the value of money. You should spend, but you have to spend your money in the right place. You don’t have to go for fine dining all the time, but you can do it once in a while during special occasion. You should plan how to use your money wisely. Adam Khoo, one of my favorite success gurus, said that he is very frugal with luxury items, but he spend a lot when he visits the bookstore.
Do you get it? Rich and successful people don’t simply spend their money. They spend on things that give them value. They don’t spend their money buying branded items that they don’t need, instead, they buy things that will improve the quality of their life, such as books and courses.
Do you invest? Most people make the money, spend most, save little and invest none. A very big difference in thinking is that most people will say that they don’t have the extra money to invest. If you think about it carefully, it is that when you invest, you will have the extra money. It is when you invest, you will make more. If you don’t invest, how are you supposed to come up with extra money to invest?
It is just like you have to put the donkey in front of the cart and not the cart in front of the donkey. It just doesn’t work that way. If you say you don’t have the money to invest and you will do it when you have more money, then it is time that you should invest! Most people get it wrong and thought that they should only invest when they got the extra.
It is when you invest that you will have extra and make more money. Therefore, start small and create a plan right now. Everyone can be rich if they start early enough and stick to their investment plan long enough.
What do you want to do with all your wealth? A lot of people wanted to be a millionaire, and when you ask them why they need so much money, they can’t seem to give you a convincing purpose. Remember, it is your “why” that will drive you to achieve what you want. If you don’t know why you want to be rich, you will never get there because you don’t have a strong reason behind to support you and to drive you.
By the way, your reasons must be exciting and able to give you the energy and motivation to take action. If your reasons are not strong enough, they will never give you the energy you need. A very simple test you can tell whether your reasons are strong enough is to ask yourself this question, “Are you 100% committed to your financial goals and willing to do whatever it takes to reach them?”
If your answer is a yes, it simply means that you have strong and emotional reasons behind. And if you feel doubtful about the answer, you might want to reconsider your purposes of making money. It is when you have a strong and emotional reason behind; you will take 100% commitment to achieve your financial goal.
Do you think you have the millionaire mindset? Nobody was born with a millionaire mind. It is our surrounding, the people we mix with and our experience that shaped who we are. Thus, if you study the story of all the great people who have accumulated massive amount of wealth, you will notice that their thought patterns and the way they handle money are learned.
Just like Arnold Schwarzenegger, he was born in a poor family, but that doesn’t mean he has a poverty mindset and destined to be broke. Arnold was inspired by Reg Park and he has a big dream. So he learned and models those who are successful around him. He has become one of the biggest stars in the arena of body building, achieve outstanding success in his acting career and even in politics.
You can be as successful as Arnold Schwarzenegger if you wanted to. As long as you are willing to learn, to adopt and to take massive amount of action, you can accomplish your wildest dreams. So develop your millionaire mindset today.
This is going to be common, but it is one of the top reasons people fail to achieve great wealth. In order to achieve big accomplishments, you must dare to dream big. Just like what Donald Trump always quoted,“dream BIG”. The bigger your dream, the more excited you will be and the more likely you are going to take action toward it.
Not only must you dream big, you need to act on your dream as well. Simply dreaming about what you want is not enough, you need to act. Dreaming about what you want to achieve is exciting, but you have to get back to the reality by working toward your dreams. Extraordinary people are able to accomplish more than ordinary people because they work ‘extra’ hard and they dare to do the ‘extra’ things that make them extraordinary.
Everything that you see today in this world starts as an idea and as a dream that someone else thought about before. Look at the laptop you are using or the phone that you are holding, they were once an idea and it is those who act on these ideas that turn the invisible into the visible. You have to do the same.
Delay gratification means resisting the temptation for an immediate reward and wait for a later reward. Most people never really think about delay gratification when they are in the mood of buying. This is because buying is an emotional decision and not logical. You know that drinking alcohol can be bad for your health, but you do it anyway, why?
It is because you cannot resist the temptation of alcohol and wanted to drink for the immediate pleasure. However, if you look at it over the long-term consequences, drinking excessive alcohol is bad for your health, everyone knows that. The same goes for managing your finances. Most people will choose to buy things that give them immediate pleasure and they will tell you they don’t have enough money to invest.
This is one of the most important characteristics you must adopt if you want to be wealthy for the long run. If you simply spend and buy whatever you want on impulse, you will use all your money into buying something that you don’t really need. So whenever you want to buy something, stop and ask yourself whether the item can give you the real value that you want. If it is not, just walk away.
It may be hard to practice this habit in the beginning, but if you are serious about getting rich, you must learn this. Put off the temptation to the immediate reward in front of you. Don’t spend on things that you don’t need, instead, use the money to invest and you will be richer faster.
All the great people out there dare to take risk. One very important principle you need to understand is that higher risk does not necessarily means higher return. Risk is contextual and it depends on your level of knowledge and experience.
Let me give you an example, a lot of people thinks that if they want to get rich, they need to take a lot of risk. This is not the case. If you can drive an F1 race car at the speed of 200km/h and still manage to make a lot of the sharp turns smoothly, I will give you a million dollar. Now, do you think this is going to be risky?
Well, if you are not well-trained and you don’t have the skill to drive an F1 race car, then the risk will be high for you. However, if you ask Michael Schumacher to do this, do you think he can do it easily? And do you think this is risky for him? Of course not, why? It is because he is well-trained and he has the skill. The same goes for investment and getting rich. If you don’t have the knowledge and the experience to invest, the chances of you making a bad investment will be higher compare to people like Warren Buffett who had tremendous experience in the stock market.
Therefore, you have to understand risk before you make the decision to go for it. And I called it calculated risk. Most people don’t know what they are dealing with and they insist to go ahead to invest or to start a business that they have no idea at all. That is truly risky. You have to take calculated risk. Meaning, you need to estimate the chances that you are going to fail or succeed before you take action.
If the chances of you to fail are higher, stop and don’t go for it. However, if the chances of winning are much higher than the chances of you losing, go ahead and do it. And this has to do with your skills, your knowledge and your experience.
These are the 7 critical reasons that will decide your financial wealth. If you do them accordingly, you will be able to accumulate massive amount of wealth. So follow through and apply these 7 principles from now
No matter who you are, we all are meant to shine in this world. If you did something badly, it doesn’t mean that you will do it badly again or do it badly in other field or industry. Just get over it, all of us will fall some of the time, but you need to get back up and live again.
“Our glory is not in never falling, but in raising every time we fall.” Confucius
No one is lazy in this world. It is just that either you don’t have empowering goals or you just don’t know how to tap into your personal potential. I strongly believe that we all are hard working in where we are passionate about. Some people procrastinate in doing their mathematics homework, but they feel ecstatic in doing their chemistry assignment, why is that? Does this means that they’re lazy? Not at all, it is just that you’re yet to find out the right place the truly belongs to you.
“People are not lazy, they simply have impotent goals – that is, goals that don’t inspire them” Anthony Robbins
30 years ago, connecting people using a small device is impossible, but in today’s world, smart phones are everywhere. 50 years ago, landing a man on the moon is impossible, but the human’s capabilities have shown what we can accomplish, giving enough time to it. So before you venture out to do something, never say that it is impossible for you, the word itself says, “I’m possible!”
“Whether you think you can or you can’t, you’re right” Henry Ford
Just like what I’ve mentioned above, everything is possible, when you truly believe that you can achieve it. When you say you can’t do it, your mind automatically shut off all possibility and you will never think further. However, when you say it is possible and you can do it, you will automatically comes up with ideas how to do it. Even if you have no idea how, but your mind will come up with places to go for.
“A bird sitting on a tree is never afraid of the branch breaking, because her trust is not on the branch but on her own wings.
When you say you’re not good enough, it simply means that you acknowledge that there is space for you to improve and you can do even better. Therefore, don’t say that you’re not good enough, just say that you still need to learn and take it as a lesson when things don’t go according to your way. As long as you never give up, you will always have a chance to prove that you can do better.
“Above all things, never think that you’re not good enough. A man should never think that. My belief is that in life, people will take you at your own reckoning.” Anthony Trollope
Never dwell in the thoughts that you’re not lucky. Just take a look at all the things you have. Compare yourself with people who don’t even have a place to sleep, homeless people and those who are starving without food, who are luckier now? If you are reading this right now, it simply means that you’re living a good enough life than many others around the world. Look at the good instead of the bad. Appreciate what you have and not blaming for what you don’t have.
“Diligence is the mother of good luck.” Benjamin Franklin
You can achieve great success if you just decide and commit to it. Never doubt your own ability; you’re much better than you think you are. Of course, success will never come overnight and it will never come without hard work. Albert Einstein, one of the most famous scientists of our time, only uses about 20% of his brain power and yet, he is able to achieve outstanding results in his field of research. What if you can tap into 10% of your brain’s potential?
“Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.” Albert Einstein
These are the 7 most common negative thoughts that will come to our mind some of the time. You have to remember that we’re not perfect and some time we will think negatively, especially during tough times. However, you have to make sure to never let these thoughts dwell in your mind. Be conscious about your thoughts, know what you think about most of the time and make sure you focus in only positive thoughts.
This is an interesting post, because you are going to find out the top 10 do’s and don’ts to achieve what you want in your life. By following all these do’s and don’ts, you will move yourself one step forward to your goals. A lot of people set their goals and they want to achieve great success, but only a few of them actually achieved what they want. I hope that you will be grouped in the minority, the success group.
So let us discover the top 10 do’s and don’ts in order to achieve what you want in your life. Let us start off with what you need to do in your life, the top 10 do’s…
Top 10 Do’s
1. Set Your Goal. Yes, you have to set your goal. This is an old school, and I believe you know why you need to set goals, right? If you don’t know why you need to set your goals today, please read Why You Need to Set Goals Today. Goals do not only help you to stay focused in what you do, if your goals are excited, they can even propel and drive you into action. If there is one thing that can make you successful, I’d say it is goal setting. This is how important goal setting is in our life. So make sure you know what you want to achieve and you have a goal before you sleep tonight.
2. Take Massive and Consistent Action. Another old school success factor. Nothing is going to automatically in our life, you have to take action and make things come true. If you just think about wanting to become a millionaire but you did not actually take the necessary action, nothing is going to happen. Just like after you read a wealth book that teaches you how to make money, if you did not apply the techniques in that book, you will not be rich. Even if there is a magic button that can make you a millionaire, you still have to move your hand on to the mouse, and hover the mouse cursor over that button and actually click on it. So remember, it is action that determines you great success. Even if you are lazy, take a few small steps that will lead you to what you want everyday, this way, you will slowly move toward your goals.
3. Pay 100% Commitment. A lot of people want to be successful, they want to be rich, they want to be financially independent. However, only a small percentage of them achieved what they want. This is because this small percentage of people are truly the one that 100% committed to achieve their goals. They will do basically everything to achieve great success in their life, within moral and ethics of course. I know that you want to be successful. The question now is, are you 100% committed to success? Will you do whatever it takes to make your dreams come true?
4. Get Out of Your Comfort Zone. The more comfort you are, the more resist to change you will be. If you truly desire great success, you have to stay away from your comfort zone. The feeling of staying in your comfort zone is nice, but it will not bring you the things that you want in your life. I know that relaxing and enjoying are great, but they will not bring you amazing result. Think about it, watching television and chatting online are fun, but will you be rich this way? Will you achieve what you want this way? So stay away from your comfort zone. If you are in your comfort zone, you will never achieve what you want in your life.
5. Never Give Up. No matter how hard life seems to be, don’t give up and give lousy excuses by blaming other things. If you fail to make more money, don’t give up and don’t blame the economy. The moment you give up, you will lose a lot of your effort which you have put in before. So no matter how hard it is, no matter what kind of obstacles you face in your life, cope with them and overcome them. Let me tell you this, every problem or question arises has a solution, if there is no solution for it, it is not a problem.
6. Stay Motivated and Keep Your Momentum Going. Why someday you feel motivated and why some of the day you feel like boring and no energy at all? You have to learn how to motivate yourself, develop the momentum and how to keep that momentum going. Motivation is not a skill, you have to do it everyday. Therefore I encourage you to read my blog, subscribe to it, read more motivation materials and once you are driven, keep yourself on that state by doing even more. This is the best way of achieving great success in your life.
7. Be More Aggressive in Taking Action. Success will not come without failure. Mark my words, you will have to fail a lot of times before you can achieve what you want in your life. In fact, it is the failure that will bring you to your success. It is the failure that will tell you what went wrong and you should change your strategies. So don’t worry in taking more action, aggressive action. You will fail no matter how clever or how lucky you are. Therefore, don’t worry about it, just take all the action and do it all out. You will find the right path to great success in the end.
8. Be Responsible in Everything You Do. Once you have taken massive action, there are only 2 outcomes, you either achieve what you want, or you fail to achieve it. So, it is just a matter of dealing with the outcomes. Well, most of the time you will fail because great success will not come the first time. Thus, the moment you fail, take the responsibility and tell yourself that you are using the wrong approach and the wrong strategies. Next, come up with new and better strategies, and go all out again. If you are not responsible and you start complaining or blaming others, you will never change because you are letting go the power to change on others. Hence, learn to be responsible in everything you do in your life.
9. Constant and Never Ending Improvement. Spend at least 30 minutes reading self-improvement materials everyday. You have to constantly improving yourself if you want great success. Only by constant and never ending improvement, you will keep yourself prepare and motivated throughout your life. By doing so, you will keep yourself driven all the time and you are developing your mind so that you will be ready for greater success. Where to find all the learning material? The answer is obvious, read my blog!
10. Enjoy, Even God Take One Day Off. You have to be balance to yourself. After you have taken massive action, spend some time to enjoy and relax. Once you have achieved some of your smaller goals, reward yourself, get one day off, go for a movie, go for spa and enjoy seriously. Yes, you have to be serious in enjoying your life as well!
There you have them, the top 10 do’s you must follow through if you really desire great success. Remember all of them, read them through over and over again. And the most important thing, DO and APPLY them in your life, don’t just read about them, use them!
So you have gone through the top 10 do’s, what about the top 10 don’ts? Here they are…
Top 10 Don’ts
1. Don’t Procrastinate. This is the number one killer of all great successes. If you want to be successful and achieve what you want in your life, don’t procrastinate. If you procrastinate, you will never achieve what you want. Many people have big dreams and they do set goals to achieve them. However, they will still fail to achieve what they want in the end. It is because they are not taking enough action. All they do is that they just dream and talk about the great success they always wanted, but they never really put in real action to make it comes true. Don’t be one of them!
2. Set Your Goal and Forget It. Don’t build the ‘set-and-forget’ mindset for your goals. This is about your future, your life, and it is not something that you can achieve in just a few hours or even days. It is a continuous process that maybe requires you years to achieve it. So if you set your goals and forget about them, you will never achieve what you want. That is why people often told you that you have to stick your goals somewhere you can see them often. You have to remind yourself about your dreams and goals everyday. Read and review your goals every night before you sleep.
3. Stay in Your Comfort Zone. This is the opposite of the one above in the top 10 do’s section. If you desire great success, then get out of your comfort zone. Staying in your comfort zone only means one thing, you will never change your life. If you are earning $1 million every year and you are satisfy with your result, it will be fine to stay and keep doing everything the same way. However, make sure that your business will keep on going, because if you are in your comfort zone, you are not willing to change. This means that you are doing things the same old way, and competitors may just overtake you anytime. That is why you have to get out of your comfort zone.
4. Keep Doing The Same Thing After You Fail. This is what most people will do. They are so eager to success, and they take massive action. And when they fail, they tell themselves that they are not hard working enough. As a result, they take even more action. Will they achieve the great success they want in the end? Not likely, because they are doing it the same way, and for sure, they will get back the same old result. If you fail to achieve your goals today, review your strategies, ask yourself whether you are using the right strategies. Don’t just keep on doing things without thinking. You want to do it not just hard, but smart in the same time as well. Extra information for you here, 3 Strategies How to Deal with Failure.
5. Don’t Do Everything At The Same Time, Stay Focused! Have you ever seen a laser beam? It is focused and it is so much powerful that it can cuts through everything that comes across. This is the kind of power that you need in order to achieve great success in your life. Can you write, read, listen and watching all at the same time? It is impossible, even if you can, the result you get is not as efficient as if you just stay focused and do just one of them in just one time. Therefore, stay focused in what you do everyday, don’t diversify your concentration. If you are reading wealth book, don’t listen to songs or even watch television. Take just one action in just one time. Don’t try to do everything all in the same time.
6. Don’t Let Your Emotion Control You. You know, you have to learn how to control and manage your emotion. Why? Because by controlling your emotion, you can achieve much more in your life. Think about it, if you are in a bad mood now, will all these information sink into your mind easily? I don’t think so. However, if you are in a very motivational state now, will you get even motivated by reading this post? Of course you will. So learn how to manage your emotion. This may seem like not important, but do not underestimate what your emotions can do to your life. Read this, 12 Keys to Success – Control Your Emotions, and you will know how your emotion can affect your life.
7. Don’t Blame and Give Lousy Excuses. Again, this is the opposite from the one in the do’s. Like what you already known, giving excuses and blaming will not change your life. If you fail your test in school, and if your choose to blame your teachers, you will never improve. Why? Because the fault is not on you, it is on your teachers! So for you, it is your teachers that have to change, and not you. Will you get better by doing so? No! However, if you take the responsibility and put the fault on yourself. You are telling yourself that you are not hard working enough, will you eventually take more action to read more and learn more? Of course you will, and this is how you will improve.
8. Don’t Hesitate of What You Can Achieve. Never to doubt about whether you can achieve the great success you always desire. You already possess the most powerful resource in the world, that is your mind. Think about it, what is the difference between you and successful people? Are they more talented that you? Are they more skillful than you? No, it is not that they have a bigger brain or they are more talented than you. It is because they focused in their field and that is what makes them the professional there. With that means, if you want to be the pro in your industry, learn more about, dream about it, sleep, drink, eat and breathe about it all the time. This will make you the pro in your industry. Think about it, why Tiger Woods is the best in golf while Michael Jordan is top in basketball? They have more legs or more hands than you? Impossible! It is because they focused in their field, and if they can do it, so can you!
9. Don’t Be Selfish and Keep All Your Knowledge and Experience. You know, if you want to be successful today, you have to help people, teach people what you knew. If you are a very successful person today, make sure that you teach people how you get there. Inspire people and bring people get to the point just like where you are. This is the golden rule of life, if you want to be successful, then you should help people achieve what they want in their life first. Once you did this, people will repay your effort and make you the person you want to be. If you want to be a millionaire today, solve people’s problem or make them rich. After you have take the elevator up to a higher level in your life, don’t forget to send it down so that people can come up. Don’t just succeed alone, succeed together.
10. Don’t Just Read About This Post, Take Action Now!Yes, this is what you need to do right now, take immediate action. Don’t just sit there staring at your monitor, don’t just read this post, do what you are suppose to do right now. If you don’t know what you want in your life, find out the answer right now. If you know what you want, but haven’t set your goals, do that right now. If you know what you want, you have set your goals, then take action to make your goals come true now. Don’t wait, just do it. Don’t worry even if you don’t know how to achieve your goals, just do whatever you think is possible. You will get it right automatically in the end.
Whew, this is a long post. And if you read up until this point, congratulations. I knew that 50% of people who read this post will not read it until this point. And if you do, you are already one step ahead of the others.
What I want to tell you now is, great success is about putting what you think into action. Everything happens twice, once in your mind, and once in reality. That means, success is a 2-step process. The first step is that you need to have the idea of what you want to achieve. You will have to deal with your inner self. The second step is an external step, where you have to take action to make it come true.
By following these 2 simple steps, I believe that you can achieve whatever you want in your life. Remember, everything happens for a reason, so make the great success you desire come true to you.
To be successful, you have to love what you do. If you want to make money from investment, then you will have to love to invest. The power of love is much bigger than you can ever expect. Only when you love to do your work, you can do it better. If you hate to succeed, do you think that you can achieve it? That will be impossible. For example, when you love someone, you are willing to do whatever it takes to be together with him or her. This is the same in pursuing your goals to success.
After you’ve read all these keys to success, you have a choice to make decisions. You can choose whether to work harder towards your goals, or you can choose to remain the same. The choice is in your hand. No matter what choices you made, you will still make a choice. What I mean here is even if you choose not to make any decision; you’re still making a choice. Therefore, in our lives, we always have a choice. This is because we can control our thinking.
The significance about controlling our thinking is that we can make things change. Mindset is the most valuable asset that everyone can have. It is not why some people are far richer than you just because they have much more money. It is because the mindset they have is different from yours. Mindset determines everything in our lives, the things we do, our behavior, our thinking, everything. Therefore you need to know how to take charge of your mind.
Success require no secrets, it is all about mindset. Everyone can buy the same wealth book that teaches you how to be rich, but not everyone can be rich after reading that book.
Why? Because the mindset is different. You can have a book that teaches you from beginning until the end on how to become a Millionaire; however if you give up in the half way, everything will be wasted. Thus it is the mindset that is more important, often, “why” is more crucial than “how”. If you know “why” you want to success, then no matter “how” hard it will be, nothing can ever stop you.
The moment you know why you want to succeed, you will somehow come up with some plan and strategies to achieve it. Like the famous saying, “when there is a will, there is a way”. Hence, if you want to be successful, just focus on creating a will.
Now, what do you feel after reading all these so-called keys to success? They are not any big secrets; all of the keys here are nothing but your mindset and your beliefs. It is you that is going to determine your success, not any secrets that you never heard before. I believe that you have heard about all the keys here, just that you never really notice about how important they are in your life.
What I wanted to tell you here is that success lies within your hands. It is how you treat success that matters. If you are serious, you are willing to put in a lot of effort and determination, nothing can ever stop you. Success will eventually be yours. However, if you keep on procrastinating, not taking any actions, and you are not serious about it, then I don’t think that you can achieve amazing results in your life.
Life is short; you must appreciate what lies in front of you. You can treat success as a game; life is a game after all. However, you must know how to play the game of life, don’t break the rules. If there is one thing I can tell you now, I will tell you to be serious and committed in everything you do.
I’m not saying that you should work and pursue success 24 hours. What I mean here is that you should do everything with 100 percent commitment and be serious in it. Even if you are enjoying, enjoy it seriously. Often, it is because of our bad habit of not doing things seriously that make us fail to achieve what we want. Therefore, learn from now on, to be serious in everything you do, even when you are playing games, play it seriously.
To Your Success.
The 12 KEYS to Success :
Key #1 – Never Give Up
Key #2 – Control Your Emotion
Key #3 – Be Prepared To Strive For Success
Key #4 – Be Responsible
Key #5 – Have A Burning Desire
Key #6 – You Must Have A Plan
Key #7 – Always Concentrate In Your Work
Key #8 – You Must Have A Clear Goal
Key #9 – I Am Talented
Key #10 – You Have To Pay For It
Key #11 – Be Ready To Learn
Key #12 – Success Require No Secrets
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