Controversial Pension Fraud Judgement: NJC Says Judge Has Case To Answer

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The National Judicial Council (NJC) has resolved that Justice Abubakar Talba of the Abuja High Court, who allowed a former Deputy Director in the police pension office, John Yusuf to pay N750.000 fine and walked away free after he was convicted for stealing N1.3 billion, has a case to answer.

Following its resolution the council has set up a committee to further investigate the judge and come up with a detailed report of what actually transpired between Mr Yusuf and Justice Talba.
The committee will also consider whether the judgment given by Justice Talba was appropriate in the circumstance.
The council could however not take any decision on 18 other petitions against judges because the responses of judges to the query issued against them came late.
The council will at its next meeting, billed to hold on 13June consider the committee’s report on Justice Talba.
Similarly, petitions against some appeal court judges were also moved for the next meeting of the council.
The council also agreed that funding of the judiciary should be made a first line charge like the funding of the Independent National Electoral Commission, the National Assembly, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation and the Universal Basic Education Commission.
A former president of the Nigerian Bar Association, Olisa Agbakoba had filed a suit at the federal high court to make the funding of the judiciary a first line charge in the federation account.
In the suit, he wants the court to declare as unconstitutional, null and void, the continued dependence of the judiciary on the executive arm of government for its budgeting and funds release since it is a violation of sections 81, 84 and 162 of the 1999 constitution.
He also wants the court to declare that by virtue of the constitutional guarantee of the independent fund of the judiciary in accordance with the provisions of 1999 constitution, judiciary’s budget ought to be taken by the National Judicial Council (NJC) straight to the National Assembly for appropriation as against the practice of taking it to the budget office under the presidency.
He also argues that apart from independent budgeting, the funds belonging to the judiciary in the consolidated revenue fund should be released directly to the NJC in whole for disbursement for the needs of the courts as against the practice of release of funds in warrants by the executive arm of government.

GLO X-FACTOR presenter

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Ladies and Gentlemen, its official, your GLO X-FACTOR presenter is the lovely and elegant Diva; TOOLZ

Angelique Kidjo wins Songlines Best Artist award

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African diva Angelique Kidjo was named Best Artist in Songlines magazine’s annual world music awards on Friday, lauded for her high-energy shows and her championing of social causes.
French veterans Lo’jo, who mix French folk with African and Arabic sounds, picked up the Best Group award and the young Zimbabwean band Mokoomba was chosen as top Newcomer.
The Best Cross Cultural-Collaboration went to Dub Colossus for the blend of Ethiopian roots, reggae and dub beats on their latest album “Dub Me Tender Vol. 1+2″.
Kidjo, originally from Benin, is one of Africa’s biggest singing stars. Over the years she has worked with Prince, sang at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, and sold out New York’s Carnegie Hall.
The Best Artist award was given for her live “Spirit Rising” album but was also recognition of her career achievements, Songlines editor-in-chief Simon Broughton told Reuters.
“She’s been around a long time but she’s always inspiring,” he said. “What clinched it was a concert she gave in London in March for Women’s Day. It was breathtaking. I’ve never seen her so exuberant. She bonds people and really makes it special.”
Kidjo, 52, has adopted the mantle of the late South African singer Miriam Makeba as a political voice and campaigns for women’s rights and education in Africa.
“The award is also for what she stands for,” Broughton said.
Lo’jo, from southwest France, has also been around a long time and the band’s latest album, “Cinema el Mundo”, showed them to be as strong as ever.
“They are much better known in the Francophone world than elsewhere. They’ve not been tempted to become more mainstream,” Broughton said.
“They are a quality act, an unusual, interesting group, especially in their connections with West and North Africa.”
YOUNG BANDS AND FANS
The Newcomer winner, Mokoomba, is a young group from Zimbabwe but the horn-driven music is pan-African, bringing in the sounds of Congo, South Africa and other countries. Its “Rising Tide” album sealed the award.
Dub Colossus’ award was recognition of its work over the past 10 years in popularizing Ethiopian music and blending it with modern beats.
“It’s risen from being unknown to something hip and really getting an audience. There’s a lot of people fusing Ethiopian and Western sounds so they represent a wide movement and are bringing in a lot of young people,” Broughton said.
World music has had mixed fortunes in the past year.
The live scene was still healthy, with a host of performers filling venues in London and elsewhere, Songlines publisher Paul Geoghegan said.
But the recording scene was very difficult for artists, record labels and distributors due to the closure of record stores and declining CD sales. The collapse of British chain HMV, whose shops stocked a wide variety of world music, was a big blow, he said.

WAJE Is Living Her Dreams

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Female songbird Aituaje Iruobe, also known as WAJE has been around for the past half-decade, contributing to the commercial success of artistes like Banky W, M.I and P Square. Banky W’s Thief My Kele, M.I’s One Naira and P Square’s 2009 remake of Omoge Me largely owe their successes to WAJE’s pretty flawless singing ability. Her vocal backing to these songs rendered them the kind of touch a potential hit song requires.

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- Mo'Cheddah: Nigeria's Hip Hop Princess

- Ice Prince: Young and Talented

Davido And Tattoos

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his very handsome face on his back, although in a smaller proportion,

Davido

Tattoos 

Collapsed Building

cynthiaokpala.blogspot.comTHREE pupils, including a girl, were killed and hundreds injured on Wednesday when a building in which they were writing the West African Examination Council School Certificate examination (WASCE) collapsed on them.
The incident occurred in Alpha Academy, a private secondary school in Mararaba, Donga Local Government Area of Taraba State.

Some 560 candidates were writing the examination in Alpha Academy. Many of them complained of the cracks before the building came down on Wednesday.

Of the 200 injured candidates, 30 are said to be in critical condition at the CRCN Hospital, Takum, where doctors are battling to save their lives.

One of the survivors, Godiya John, 22, who sustained a spinal cord injury, was immediately referred to the National Hospital, Abuja.

Donga council chair Capt. Douglas Ndatse (rtd), who confirmed the incident, described the examination hall as a one-storey building.
He said the examination was taking place upstairs.

Another survivor, simply identified as Ezekiel, said they were waiting for the Biology question paper when the building suddenly came down on them.

Ezekiel, who is seriously injured, said the incident occurred at about 6:48pm, more than three hours behind the time scheduled for the examination.

“The paper was slated for 3:30pm,” Ezekiel said, attributing the delay to officials.
Some 560 candidates are writing the examination in Alpha Academy.

President Goodluck Jonathan silence is a sharp contrast

cynthiaokpala.blogspot.com                                                                                                                      More than 48 hours after Nigerian soldiers hunting for Boko Haram insurgents allegedly leveled Baga town in Borno State, killing 185 civilians and wounding several others, President Goodluck Jonathan is yet to comment on the tragedy.

The president’s silence is a sharp contrast with the way his United States counterpart, Barack Obama, acts whenever even a single American is killed.
Immediately news of the Boston bombing, which killed three and injured more than 170 reached him last Monday, President Obama spoke up, condole with the victims and their families, described the incident as an act of terrorism and stressed the determination of the American authorities to bring perpetrators to book.
But there has been no word from the Nigerian government since news of the massacre broke in the local and international press.
Presidential spokespersons, Reuben Abati and Doyin Okupe did not answer or return calls seeking comments on why the president is still quiet about the killings. They also did not respond to text messages sent to them.
The president’s silence has however sparked outrage among some Nigerians.
“A competent and sensible president should have visited Borno immediately to see things for himself,” says Segun Onabanjo, a sociology lecturer at the Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago Iwoye. “That he is still holed up there in Aso Rock, keeping mum when his troops are alleged to have extrajudicially killed 185 is an indication of how much this president values the lives of the people he governs.”
Olu Akerele, a chieftain of the opposition Progressive Peoples Alliance, PPA, said it is sad that Nigerians have no one to look up to for leadership in the face of this kind of tragedy.
“Our expectation is that the president would immediately review the intelligence he received from Borno and then take action to lessen the pains of the people of the town. This president has carried his ineptitude too far,” Mr. Akerele said. “It is an indication that even if all of us are killed, this president just might not care.”
At least 185 persons including women and children were reportedly killed by either gunshots or fire after soldiers of the Joint Task Force tried to hunt down Boko Haram insurgents in the commercial border town of Baga in Borno State, completely burning down the community in the process.
Local government officials who spoke to PREMIUM TIMES said 185 persons died, at least 2000 houses, 64 motorcycles and 40 cars were burnt in the wake of the attack.
The Borno State Governor, Kashim Shettima, visited the town on Sunday and was told by residents that soldiers were responsible for the torching of houses that led to the death of many.
PREMIUM TIMES gathered that scores of others are currently hospitalised with various shades of burnt injuries.
Residents said most casualties especially the aged ones and children died as a result of the conflagration that engulfed the entire town.
Governor Kashim Shettima who visited the town on Sunday became emotionally drenched at the sight of charred houses,vehicles and how homeless residents took refuge in the bushes.
The Commander of the Task Force, Brigadier General Austin Edokpaye, explained that the fire that consumed the town and resultant deaths should be blamed on the Boko Haram terrorists who opened fire on soldiers while hiding in the mix of civilians.
A local trader in Baga told PREMIUM TIMES that the attack started at about 8 p.m on Friday and was continued the next day.
“Only God can understand what we have done to deserve this. But the soldiers were mindless that night in their approach; they killed and burnt our houses, chased everyone into the bush including women and children. So far we have buried 185 corpses. – some were burnt beyond recognition; others are hospitalised with various degrees of burnt,” said the resident who begged to remain anonymous.
Governor Shettima who drove through the burnt town amidst heavy motorcade of security personnel condemned the incident which he said was a ‘nasty occurrence’.
At the town’s hospital, the governor had to commiserate with women, children and aged men receiving treatment for various degrees of burnt caused by the fire.
Bashir Isa, a grocery merchant, told PREMIUM TIMES that “everyone has been in the bush since Friday night; we started returning back to town because the governor came to town today.
“To get food to eat in the town now is a problem because even the markets are burnt. We are still picking corpses of women and children in the bush and creeks.”
Brigadier General Edokpaye denied residents allegations that the shootout was unprovoked.
“We lost an officer during the attack on our men on patrol. We’ve received an intelligence that some suspected Boko Haram members usually pray and hide arms at a particular mosque in town. It was around that mosque that our men were attacked with several of them injured and an officer died.
“When we reinforced and returned to the scene the terrorists came out with heavy firepower including RPGs which usually has a conflagration effect,” the army chief said.
Governor Shettima pleaded with fleeing residents to return back to their burnt homes as a committee has been empannelled to provide a palliative compensation for the loss they suffered. He also called on the commander to “take full charge” of his operation and ensure he personally supervises his field officers from time to time “in order to avert such nasty incidences in the future

Kevin lifted Melissa out of the water

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She’s been accused of distracting him from his football career and from these pictures it’s not difficult to see why.
Sports Illustrated model Melisa Satta showed off her enviable figure in Miami yesterday as she frolicked in the ocean with AC Milan boyfriend Kevin-Prince Boateng and he was happy to be the sole focus of her attention.
The couple heated things up in the sunshine as they passionately kissed while taking a dip, oblivious to other holidaymakers. Gorgeous 26-year-old Melissa wore a bright striped bikini which struggled to contain her ample curves and showed off her pert bottom.
A star tattoo on each of her hips and a larger tattoo on her right shoulder were also visible.
Meanwhile Kevin, 25, showcased his impressive collection of body art as he took to the beach in a pair of black shorts.The playful couple appeared to be re-enacting scenes from movie Dirty Dancing at one stage as Kevin lifted Melissa out of the water.
The affectionate pair couldn’t keep their eyes or their hands off each other, kissing and cuddling in the water and later Kevin was spotted playing with Melissa’s bikini bottoms.
Despite becoming an integral part of the AC Milan’s midfield, Boateng missed a number of games during the season due to a succession of minor injury problems.
AC Milan fans have been unhappy with the player and his girlfriend after she claimed in January that his injuries were caused by too much sex.
She told Vanity Fair: ‘The reason why he is always injured is because we have sex seven to ten times a week.
‘I hate foreplay, I want to get straight to the point. My favourite position is on top so I can take control.’
The couple have been dating since October 2011, one month after Kevin’s divorce from the mother of son Jermaine-Prince was finalised.