TWO NIGERIA ARRESTED IN GHANA FOR IMPORTING 200Kg OF cocaine

TWO NIGERIA ARRESTED IN GHANA FOR IMPORTING 200Kg OF cocaine

Two Nigerians, Sunny Ekecukwu Beji Eke, 53 and James Elekechukwu, 47 have been apprehended in connection with the importation of 200 kg of cocaine with an approximated street value of $ 12 million.

The arrest of the two Nigerian businessmen was preceded by the seizure of the drugs by the Narcotic Control Board (NACOB). The seizure has been described as the biggest in recent times in the West African country’s Tema Harbour. Street Journal gathered that the illicit substance was carefully concealed in a 40-foot container with the number MRK 257478-45 GI laden with 1,946 boxes of shampoo imported from Bolivia. Nii Lante Blankson, the Deputy Executive Secretary of NACOB disclosed that an intelligence report was received last December that a cargo said to contain cosmetics was heading for Tema Harbour and that the said cargo was also suspected to contain some narcotics.

He stated that when the container docked at Tema on January 29, NACOB officials immediately mounted surveillance on it and when a clearing agent showed up after two weeks with the necessary papers to clear the goods, he was promptly arrested to aid investigations. According to the NACOB Deputy Executive Secretary, the cargo was originally built to contain 22 pallets of different cosmetics but when it was examined, it was found to contain 1,946 cartons, 33 of which contained 198 yellow bottles of cocaine while 29 others contained 174 green bottles of cocaine.

The container was subsequently traced to Elekechukwu who was arrested in his house near Welja. He however opened up on interrogation that the container actually belonged to Chief Eze, who he said was his classmate and friend.

Findings have also revealed that Chief Eke’s company, De Consumables Company was allegedly registered using fake documents. Eze was arrested at the Accra Shopping Mall during a meeting with the clearing agent and Elekechukwu after being carefully lured to Ghana. Four Nigerian passports with different names were found in his possession.

CHARLES AHIZE WIFE, MAUREEN DELIVERS BABY GIRL

CHARLES AHIZE WIFE, MAUREEN DELIVERS BABY GIRL

The popular Lagos millionaire business, Chief Charles Ainze’ wife Maureen as put to Bed, The woman was said to gave birth to a bouncing baby girl few days ago,  the beautiful socialite got married in September 2011 after dating for a few years

 This is the Couple’s first child and the new bundle of joy has been named Jada. The name of choice has meanings, to the Hebrews it's a unisex name and it translates to mean ''the wise''

Charles Ahinze and wife Maureen

Doris Simeon opens 3D Cosmetics Store in Lagos

Doris Simeon opens 3D Cosmetics Store in Lagos

 

Award winning Nollywood actress, Doris Simeon, as put all marriage crisis  behind her now, soft spoken acctres, Doris will be opening a special beauty store named 3D Cosmetics store in Lagos, this Friday the 8th of March, 2013. According to the pretty light-skinned mother of one, she will be running this passion of hers alongside her acting career.

According to her….“I’ve always loved two things while growing up, cosmetics and TV.After conquering the TV, I want to explore the cosmetics world. In 3D cosmetics store, we sell cream, soaps, make-up kits and several world class make-ups. I also recommend good products for our clients and I’m currently undergoing a course in make-up, so I can make people’s faces up”



Doris Simon

Revealed: Governor Goodluck Jonathan Gave Obaigbena $1 Million to Invite Beyonce & Jay Z to Nigeria, from Bayelsa’s Poverty Alleviation Funds

 

By SaharaReporters, New York

SaharaReporters has uncovered a document indicating that a million dollars of Bayelsa State’s poverty alleviation fund was spent by then Governor Goodluck Jonathan on bringing American entertainers Beyonce and Jay Z to Nigeria in 2006.
In a letter stamped and signed by Bayelsa officials, N150 million (approximately a million dollars in 2006) was released from the state’s poverty alleviation fund for the first ThisDay Music Festival in Lagos.
The document came to light after a controversy was ignited over how much money American “reality TV” star Kim Kardashian was paid for a brief visit to Nigeria.
Ms. Kardashian, star of a US TV show about her idle rich family and who shot to international fame after a sex tape featuring her and her rapper boyfriend went viral, was reportedly paid half a million dollars for the 24-hour-visit last week.
The sources who provided the 2006 document for Beyonce and Jay Z’s visit told Saharareporters that there was a shady financial link between the producers of some high profile entertainment events and the governors and other officials who control budgets at the state and federal levels. Mr. Obaigbena’s newspaper, ThisDay, is a major sponsor of entertainment events that brings US music stars as well as top public figures for flying visits to Nigeria in exchange for gargantuan paychecks.
“Mr. Obaigbena often lines up financial bonanzas from numerous governors, ministers and other top government officials to finance his jamborees,” said one of the sources who is based in the UK and is knowledgeable about such deals.
SaharaReporters obtained a letter from Mr. Obaigbena to the Bayelsa State government soliciting funds from the oil-producing state ahead of Nigeria’s 46th independence celebrations in 2006. The publisher wrote, “We invite you to partner with us as co-hosts of the festival.” The letter added: “With a total budget of $10 million, the co-host is expected to contribute a minimum of $2.5 million (two million five hundred thousand USD).”
At the bottom of the letter, minuted by hand and signed by then Governor Jonathan’s aides as well as the Bayelsa State accountant general are the words, “Release N150,000,000.00 (One hundred and fifty million naira) only to be drawn from the poverty alleviation subhead.”
One source told SaharaReporters that Mr. Obaigbena sent similar letters to other south-south states.
SaharaReporters could not ascertain how much of the released funds was paid directly to performers at the festival. There is no indication that Beyonce, one of the few entertainment stars internationally famous enough to only need one name, was aware that her performance was being subsidized by the poor people of Bayelsa.
But during Beyonce’s celebrated rendition of the Nigerian national anthem, pictures of Bayelsa State were projected onto the wall of the Lagos concert venue.
According to the Nigerian Bureau of Statistics, 47% of Bayelsans live in poverty. The World Bank says that per capita gross domestic product in the Niger Delta is significantly below the country’s average. According to the state’s own 2005 development strategy, 80% of rural communities have no access to safe drinking water, a key indicator in judging poverty. In Yenagoa, the state capital and Bayelsa’s largest urban area, an estimated two out of every five residents do not have access to safe drinking water.
In 2005, as part of its UN-approved strategy to combat poverty, the state promised to make a fund of N100 million available as soft loans and micro-credit to Bayelsans. The allocated fund was N50 million less than Mr. Jonathan approved for Mr. Obaigbena’s music festival. That promise was made in the Bayelsa State Economic Empowerment and Development Strategy, published by the United Nations Development Program and signed by then Governor Diepreye Alamieyeseigha. A civil rights activist in Yenogoa told SaharaReporters that the state “has been a woeful failure in its poverty reduction program.”
The letter from Mr. Obaigbena to then-governor Goodluck Jonathan said the concert was necessary to show that the news from Nigeria was “not just…HIV/AIDS, conflicts, poverty, kidnapping, strife and riots.”
The publisher added: “This is the longest ever period of democracy in Nigeria, over seven years and counting! And a stable democracy means more investment and economic prosperity for all.”

Nigeria: New Youth Political Party to Deliver Nigeria – Promotion

The publisher went on to give reasons why the state government should contribute to the concert.
The stars’ performances would “tell the world, through music, that Nigeria’s time has come,” Mr. Obaigbena wrote. The letter added, “And once the good news catches on with the young and upwardly mobile, music loving new generation it will catch on with the world of investments and bountiful opportunities.”
In 2006, Mr. Goodluck Jonathan had just become governor of Bayelsa after his boss, Diepreye Alamieyeseigha, was impeached and convicted on corruption charges.  Mr. Jonathan was then elevated to Vice President to then President Umaru Yar’Adua. Mr. Yar’Adua’s death in 2010 enabled Mr. Jonathan, a zoologist whose PhD focused on tropical fish, to assume the presidency.

 Obaigbena and Beyonce

Since 2006, Mr. Obaigbena’s parent company, Leaders & Company, has produced a number of high-profile events that have seen such American stars as Rihanna, R Kelly, and Usher perform for Nigerians. The ticket prices for these concerts are usually out of reach of the “average” Nigerian. The events feature tickets that cost many tens of thousands of naira, usually reserved for “VIP access.” ThisDay has also hosted political luminaries like former US President Bill Clinton and former economic adviser to the Obama presidency, Lawrence Summers. At an Africa Rising concert in London, former US Secretary of State Colin Powell came on stage and danced to the popular Naija jam “Yahooze” by Olu Maintain.
 

Commodore Ofik Celebrate Mother at 75

Commodore Ofik Celebrate Mother at 75

By Olusegun Rapheal

Penultimate weekend, It was a gathering of class and panache, when Madam Rachel Erebo Thomson Celebrate her 75^th Birthday, the event was held at Naval Dockyard Victoria Island, Lagos. Among those Naval Officer, Western Command, Rear Admiral Ameen Ikioda, Rear Admr Isaac Arinola, Mrs Bishop Okonkwo, Rear Admr. Joel Amaino and his wife

The celebrant, Madam Rachael Thomson

Commodore Emmanuel Ofik and his wife

Ayodele Olawale

L-R: Mrs Bishop Okonkwo and Mrs Nnoye Nbaegbu

Commodore Emmanuel Ofik (middle) with Mr Uzo Nwakwo and his wife, Ijeoma

Mr Uzo Nwakwo and wife, Ijeoma

R-L: Naval Officer, Western Command, Rear Admiral Ameen Ikioda and Rear Admr Isaac Arinola

Rear Admr, Joel Amaino and his wife, Mercy

Dignitaries honour Chief Okafor at daughter’s wedding

Dignitaries honour Chief Okafor at daughter’s wedding

By Olusegun Rapheal.

Dignitaries across Nigeria, amongst who were former Head of Statet, General Ibrahim Babangida, Sen. Florence Ita-giwa, Former CBN, President,  Prof. Charles Soludo and Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, recently honoured Chairman, Chickason Group, Chief Chika Okafor, as his daughter, Nneamaka, was joined in holy matrimony to her heartthrob, Kingsly, at Catholic Church of Assumption, Lagos. Guests were treated to a lavish reception at the Civic Centre, Victoria Island. Lagos.   

Couple: Nneamaka and Kingsly

Bride Father, CHIEF & MRS FAVOUR OKAFOR 

Bride Mother, MRS EUNICE EJIKEME 

              

CHIEF MRS HENRIETTA VANNI & HELINA SAKUTU 

CHUKWUEMEKA SOLUDO & DR. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala 

FORMER HEAD OF STATE,GENERAL GBADAMOSI BABANGIDA 

MRS BOSE CLARKE,MRS GANI VIGO

PRINCE FABIAN EMMANUEL & WIFE

PROF. DORA AKUNYILI, SENATOR FLORENCE ITA-GIWA AND DR. OLUSEGUN AGANGA 

At Superlative wedding of Kema Chikwe's Son, Naeto C in Lagos
It was a gathering of high politician, business moguls, expatriates and creame-de-la-cream of the society penultimate weekend, Saturday, 21st July2012.  When Naetochukwu Chike the son of former Minister of Aviation, Mrs Kema Chikwe exchange marital vows with his heart-throb Nicole Chukweke, the elaborate and expansive wedding was held at Catholic Church of Diving Mercy, Admiralty way Lekki, Lagos.  After the Solemnization the wedding train moved to the Impression Event Centre, Blue waterway, Lekki where the guest were treated to sumptuous reception and were treated to various delicacies and choice of drinks. Among those who witness the wedding are Former President, Olusegun Obasanjo, Anambra State Governor, Mr. Peter Obi, Minister of Defense, Erelu Olusola obada and husband, Tony Elumelu, Sen. Chris Ngige, Paulline Tallen,Sen. Chris Uba among others.    


BY : Olusegun Rapheal