Nigeria BasketMouth Represents Africa In “Just For Laughs” Festival In Canada

July 21, 2014

King of Nigerian Comedy, BasketMouth, is representing African comedy as he becomes the first ever Nigerian comedian to perform at the annual “Just for Laughs” comedy festival in Montreal, Canada.

Comedy Central (DStv Channel 122) and DStv will be flying BasketMouth and South African comics John Vlismas and Mpho Popps off to Montreal, Canada this month to participate in the legendary Montreal Just for Laughs (@just_for laughs) comedy festival from July 20 to 27.

BasketMouth will make his Festival debut at various clubs during the week, while veteran South African comedian John Vlismas returns to Just For Laughs to perform in Talk of The Fest, one of the Festival’s premiere club shows. Vlismas’s performance is being taped as part of the Just For Laughs: All Access television series, and will air on Comedy Central later in 2014.

Commenting, Evert van der Veer, Channel Director, Comedy Central, Africa, “African comedy has the potential to be one of the African continent’s most powerful cultural exports and we are very proud to have John, Mpho and Basketmouth representing Comedy Central in Canada. We are delighted to facilitate their presence at Just For Laughs – one of the world’s most important international comedy events.”

Expressing his delight, BasketMouth says: “I am extremely humbled by the opportunity and I intend to give it more than my best shot and the best of me; it is certainly a dream come true.”

John Vlismas added, “I am so excited to be going back [to Montreal] after about nine years… I’m going back a lot more experienced, more divorced, more tattooed and more focussed than ever. I’m going determined to make an impression this time: I’ll take hostages if I have to!”

“Just For Laughs is thrilled to welcome Comedy Central Africa back to the Festival for a third consecutive year.” said Bruce Hills, C.O.O., Just For Laughs. [myad]

National Conference Report May End In Dustbin; Northern Delegates At Work

Greenbarge Reporters

July 21, 2014

There are indications that Northern delegates to the National Conference are working desperately to kill the final report of the body.

Reports have it that the Northern delegates met at a highbrow hotel in Abuja at the weekend to ensure that the report does not see the light of day.

The conference, which ended abruptly, last week, is to review and adopt its report on August 4, preparatory for presentation to its convener, President Goodluck Jonathan.

A former female Senator believed to be the arrow head of the conferees who met and resolved to “seek the understanding” of senators and House of Representatives members from the North to scuttle the report.

Part of the strategies adopted at the meeting, the source said, is to “aggressively pursue enlistment of support of Northern members of the National Assembly to scrutinise the report to ensure that portions considered to be against the interest of the North are blocked from being ratified.”

The meeting, said to have been held on Friday, was said to have lasted till the early Saturday.

Delegates who attended the meeting were mandated to use the opportunity of the annual recess of the National Assembly to reach out to the lawmakers.

Although the conference made some landmark resolutions, it failed to agree on derivation and revenue sharing formula.

The conference advised the federal government to set up a technical committee to resolve the issues.

Local government administration, state police, derivation principle, land tenure, state creation, pilgrimage and alleged new constitution almost broke the conference.

As disagreement simmered, some Northern delegates were pointedly accused of working to break the conference.

Northern delegates were particularly uncomfortable with the resolution to have local government administration transferred from the exclusive legislative list to the concurrent legislate list.

They also bickered over the recommendation to empower states that desire it to create their own police.

Part of their argument was that most Northern states cannot afford to fund state police.

Some of the Northern delegates also expressed concerns over the resolution to create additional 18 states, with a special one for the southeast zone.

The most contested conference report was the Devolution of Power report. Its committee was co-chaired by former Akwa Ibom Governor Obong Victor Attah and former Inspector General of Police Alhaji Ibrahim Coomasie.

Coomasie, leader of the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), led Northern delegates to the conference.

Most of the recommendations made by the Committee on Devolution of Power were adopted by the conferees but derivation principle was contentious.

To resolve the issue, the conference secretariat allowed time for mediation by leaders of the six geo-political zones which resolved that the derivation benchmark be raised to “not less than 18 percent”.

The leaders also proposed that five per cent of the Consolidated revenue fund should be set aside for reconstruction of insurgency ravaged North east geo-political zone, with a proviso that the fund be made open to every state where terrorists caused destruction, beginning with the Northeast.

Northern delegates opposed the generalization of the fund and insisted that the five per cent insurgency fund should be specifically Northeast, Northwest and Northcentral geo-political zones.

Southeast and southwest delegates said that the fund should take care of every state where terrorism had occurred. [myad]

New Refineries Coming To Kogi, Bayelsa States

Greenbarge Reporters

July 21, 2014

Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria in collaboration with Water Carbornfield Energy Ltd., a consortium firm from Panama is set to construct new refineries in Kogi and Bayelsa states.

The CEL Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Jose Arosemena Mosi, who made the disclosure when he spoke with newsmen in Abuja, said the refineries with targeted capacity of 200,000 barrel per day, will guarantee a steady flow of oil products needed to satisfy local consumption.

“The cost of the refineries is not certain at this moment. We need to do the economic analysis and it will take like two or four months. The refinery capacity is about 200,000 barrel per day. It will take like four or five years to build, complete and start production.”

Mosi said the company would be responsible for the funding of the refinery, while IPMAN is expected to provide the local content.

The IPMAN President, Chinedu Okoronkwo, said the association sealed the investment deal with foreign company to build the refinery in Agge, Ceek in Bayelsa and Kogi, respectively.

Okoronkwo said Agge had one of the deepest ports in West Africa and with that it would make it on the refinery hub in the region.

He said the one in Kogi would also help to serve the market in the North because of its strategic location

According to him, the proposed refineries will help to grow the country’s Gross Domestic Product and reduce capital flight.

Okoronkwo said the project would create about two million direct and indirect jobs, help in production distribution nationwide and reduce dependence on importation.

“You will agree with me that over 80 per cent of the downstream sector is being owned by the IPMAN, when you are talking of petrol station owners.

“So, with these refineries members will have easy access to products and will have it in their stations and by extension it will grow the economy and create wealth.”

The IPMAN president said the host governors had demonstrated willingness to support the projects by providing land and other necessary assistance.

He, therefore, called on the Federal Government to assist further in creating favourable environment for the investment to thrive. [myad

Bring Back Championship Trophy To Nigerian, Ex Super Falcon, Akide Tells Players

Greenbarge Reporters

July 21, 2014

Ex-Super Falcons star, Mercy Akide-Udoh, has called on the female team to put up a determined performance to ensure they bring the African Women’s Championship (AWC) trophy back to Nigeria even as she warned them not to underrate any of its opponents in Championship.

She spoke after draws for the competition was held in Namibia at the weekend. Nigeria was drawn against Namibia , Zambia and Cote d’ Ivoire in group A , while group B has South Africa, Cameroon ,Ghana and Algeria.

The two-time African Player of the Year and member of FIFA’s Football Committee is not happy that the team who was once a dominant force on the continent has not shown consistency in recent years.

“The girls should not look at it like they can walk over any body. Everybody now knows that anybody is beatable,” she told KickOffNigeria.com

“So they should bring their A game. We need that trophy back. We have not been consistent over the last few years and we need to get our rhythm back.

“But we must respect opponents and play every game like it’s the final because all the teams in Africa are improving and if the team wants to return to being champions, the players must show improvement,” she said. [myad]

Ex OPEC Scribe, Rilwanu Lukman, Dies At 75

Greenbarge Reporters

July 21, 2014

Former Nigeria’s Minister of Petroleum Resources and erstwhile Secretary General of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), Rilwanu Lukman is dead. He died aged 75 after a career spanning five decades.

Dr. Lukmam, who died in the early hours of today, July 21, at his residence in Vienna, Austria after a brief illness, was born on August 26 1938 in Zaria, Kaduna State and left behind a wife and 3 children.

Dr. Lukman had played a key role mending fences in the often fractious Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries as well as in Nigeria, where it worked to reform the oil industry and resolve a conflict with militants.

“He was widely recognized and highly regarded in the global petroleum industry; a loyal and dedicated man, who had the best interests of Nigeria and OPEC at heart,” OPEC said, without expanding on the cause of his death.

Dr. Lukman had been oil minister between 1986 and 1990, and then again between 2008 and 2010, in addition to heading state-run Nigerian National Petroleum Corp. between 1999 and 2003.

During his last tenure as a minister, he tried to reform Nigeria’s troubled oil industry, working to cut its bloated fuel subsidies and to find private finance for its state companies. But he also assisted the government in brokering an amnesty with militants that had crippled the country’s oil industry.

The seasoned official is best remembered internationally as one of the most experienced heads of OPEC, where he served as a secretary-general between 1995 and 2000, and as president three times between 1986 and 2002.

He was known as a skilled, soft-spoken diplomat, helping steer the group toward consensus, particularly during the Asian financial crisis in 1997 and 1998. “Whoever is president has to get people to work together,” he told The Wall Street Journal in a 2008 interview. [myad]

Editorial: Stop Sowing This Seed, It Is Bitter

Greenbarge Reporters

July 21, 2014

A bitter seed is presently being sown in the South East, inhabited by Igbo/Christians, against the people from the Northern part of the country, inhabited mainly by Hausa/Fulani/Muslims.
The seed is coming in the form of alleged plan by leaders in the South East to issue Identity Cards (ID) to Northerners/Muslims doing businesses for survival on their land. The idea of ID cards for the Hausa/Muslims stem from flat conclusion, by the South East authorities, that every Hausa/Muslim is a member of Boko Haram.
As a matter of fact, even Igbo people in other parts of the country in particular and most Christians around the country in general, hold this dangerous notion that, and indeed, regard every Muslim as Boko Haram.
When it first started, many Muslims regarded such ‘description’ by the Christians as a mere joke, but it appears to have now been elevated to a personality of its own.
So much it is that the Christian dominated parts of the country have now stepped up measures, one of which is ID cards, to give the obviously wrong and wicked notion a stamp of reality.
It is on record that the Nigerian leadership, on top of which is President Goodluck Jonathan, has publicly acknowledged the fact that Boko Haram has nothing to do with Islam. Even the teenage Pakistani activist, Ms. Malala also added her voice to the fact that members of Boko Haram couldn’t be fighting for, and on behalf of Islam and Muslims.
The Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Muhammed Sa’ad Abubakar III had recently said, with a lot of bravery, that Boko Haram was the creation of politicians, ahead of 2015 general elections. That is irrespective of religion. Even the Nigerian noble laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka made similar observation; that Boko Haram is more political than religion.
But despite all such acknowledgments as well as empirical evidences and practices of members of the sect, those who are already fixated continue to remain unconvincing.
There is, indeed, nothing more naïve than for some dogmatic religious haters to continue to cling to an idea, even when the realities show that such idea is phoney.
One of the realities which such dogmatic religious zealots have not adverted their minds to, or are so fixated on is the fact that whenever Boko Haram strikes and wherever, they would not ask Muslims around the scene to vacate before they blast the bomb.
It is clearly on record that members of Boko Haram have been attacking Churches across the North East the same way they have been attacking Mosques.
Similarly, they have maimed and killed Church leaders, including Pastors the same way they have maimed and killed Islamic religious leaders, including two Sheikhs one in Kano and the other in Zaria. This is in addtion to the murder of a first-class Muslim traditional ruler in Borno state recently.
It is therefore more like a double trouble for an average Muslim, who is as, if not more peaceful than a person in any other religion, to be facing aspersion cast on him by Christians while also facing the same fate of possible elimination by Boko Haram as they, the Christians.
Besides, there have been two or more cases of even Christians being caught red-handed trying to detonate bomb, or carrying out activities that are not different from that of Boko Haram in the recent past. In other words, some Christians have been caught in the Boko Haram garb and style, which point to the fact that anybody can be termed Boko Haram.
It is therefore, within this context, that we in Greenbarge Reporters see it as a sign of spiritual and moral wickedness to group ALL Muslims in the country and make them ‘suspected Boko Haram’ and much more, subjecting them to identification formalities anywhere outside the supposed Islamic region.
The Northern social organization, Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) has recently called the authorities in the South East and indeed, Christians, to order over the reported registration of Hausa/Muslims doing businesses in the region for the purpose of issuing them ID cards, against the backdrop of their being termed Boko Haram suspects.
ACF expressed the fear that if the leaders in the North should embark on a similar action by identifying the Igbos in the northern region, may be as Kidnappers, Armed robbers, it could cause crisis that may lead to undeserved division of Nigerians on ethnic or religious consideration.
The Northern umbrella body quoted statistics which indicated that Igbo investments in Kaduna, Kano, and Jos alone amounted to N45 trillion. It said that with such huge investments in just three States of the North, the Easterners have no reason to maltreat Northerners doing businesses in the East.
“If the table turns round, it could be disastrous as these investments may suffer. But we are praying for understanding among the entire Nigerians to accept themselves wherever they live to earn legitimate means of livelihood.”
This is saying in effect that he who lives in glass house should not begin to throw stones. After all, Nigerians, as they are now, are so interwoven that touching one in one part of the country would create a boomerang effect on another in other part of the country. Or is it reprisal?
Therefore, sowing this bitter seed may spread across the country like the seed of melon.
In the end, no one will truly be a victor. [myad]

We’re Not Asking For Islamic Nigeria, Have No Problem With Jonathan, Want Our Men Freed–Boko Haram

Greenbarge Reporters

July 21, 2014

“We (members of Boko Haram) have the weapons and are in control. We are not asking for Islamic Nigeria. We want our men free.
“The problem (we have with government) started during the late President Yar’Adua regime. Goodluck only inherited the problem. We have no problem with Goodluck. But his Ijaw people around him are deceiving him.”
This was part of a damninig revelations which an online medium:
247ureports.com said was made available to it through a high ranking contact with the organizational structure of Boko Haram.
The revelation published by the medium, detailed the recent attacks on Kano, Bauchi State–and the aborted attack of September 15, 2011 on the former President of the federal republic of Nigeria, General Olusegun Aremu Obasanjo during his visit to the home of the in-law of the slain leader of the Boko Haram, Babakura Fuggu in Borno State.
It was gathered that the leader of Boko Haram, Imam Abubakar Shekau, who is currently hiding away in Qoundere, Cameroun following the recent and ongoing attacks on Kano and Bauchi State–had deliberated seriously on the assassination of Obasanjo on September 15, 2011 while on a visit to Borno State to the home of the in-law to the slain leader of Boko Haram (Ustaz Mohammed Yusuf).
According to the Boko Haram source, Obasanjo’s contact with Yusuf’s in-lawal, Babakura Fuggu (eldest son of Yusuf’s in-law) concerning opening a channel of dialogue with the terrorist group did not go down well with the leadership of because the line of leadership did not automatically follow family lineage as in traditional settings. As a ‘religious’ group, they did not see Babakura as the rightful person to take over from Yusuf. For this reason, the leadership of the group ‘silently’ objected to the meeting between Babakura and Obasanjo.
Obasanjo had earlier concluded his secret meeting the previous day at the Green House with three other religious group (Jamatu Nasir Islam, JNI and CAN) in Jos, the capital of Plateau State on the Wednesday of September 14, 2011, and took off the following day to Borno State. According to the source: “he (Obasanjo)was going to be a big catch but the leadership (of Boko Haram) halted the operation as Obasanjo went inside the residence of Babakura.
“Obasanjo was good to us. We had no problem with Obasanjo. We had him. We could have taken him out,” as he recalled that the sharia movement took off during the period when Obasanjo was president.
Interestingly, the Boko Haram source who spoke in fluent English language with a slight American accent explained that the decision to ‘finish’ Babakura Fuggu came due to what transpired between Obasanjo and Babakura.
“We learnt he asked for money on behalf of Boko Haram to enable the group defray litigation costs and other minor financial requests which the leadership of Boko Haram considered menial and demeaning. The wife, Yakolo, was said to have received N500,000 from the former president. Babakura Fuggu was gun down on September 17, 2012 by his younger brother as he existed his home in the company of other young men dressed in reddish-orange babarigas, each armed with AK47s – just barely forty eight hours after the visit of former President Obasanjo.
Meanwhile, information available to 247ureports.com reveals the reason Kano and Bauchi State were attacked a few days ago as having to do with failed promises by the State governors of the two states. The entire northern governors, according to the Boko Haram source, have ongoing relationships with the group.
“Most of them pay us monthly to leave their states alone.”
In Kano State, the former state governor, Malam Shekarau reached an agreement with the terrorist group in late 2004 for an initial monthly disbursement of N5million which was later bumped up to N10million in 2009. The agreement, according to the source, included provision of institutional infrastructural support through the Hisbah (Islam police) project which received yearly budgetary allocation of N1.01billion. The gubernatorial election of April 2011 which introduced Rabiu Kwankwaso as the new governor changed the agreement. The Kwankwaso administration was quick to dismantle the Hisbah set up–and the said agreement to disburse N10million monthly. The governor proceeded to make arrests of known Boko Haram members. Boko Haram leadership who had found comfort in Kano did not appreciate the Kwankwaso administration’s policy on Boko Haram. According to the source, “we warned the Governor of the consequences.”
“We concluded on Kano in December 2011.″ The abrupt end to the oil subsidy strike and protests served an opportunity for the group to strike. The preparatory work for the attack and the selection of targets had already been completed. According to the source, an estimated number of casualties was calculated to net 300 minimum.
“The go ahead order” was given on Wednesday (January 18, 2012) evening before the leader of the group left the country to Cameroon on the early morning of Thursday, the following day.
In Bauchi State, the Governor, Malam Yuguda reached similar agreement with the leadership of the group. A monthly disbursement of N10million was agreed upon along with provision of training grounds on the many mountain scattered in Bauchi State. The governor also promised to give them security against arrests by the federal government. The agreement was reached in June 2008 but mid 2011, the governor stopped the disbursement of the N10 million regularly. Boko Haram members were not happy but remained loyal to the agreement because of the unfettered access to the mountains of Bauchi as training camps.
However, the arrest and detention of their number 3 man by the State Security Services (SSS) fractured the relationship between the governor and the terrorist group. According to the source, the State was attacked to free the number 3 leader of Boko Haram and to “teach them a lesson.” The detained leader was educated at the prestigious Lincoln University in the State of Connecticut, USA and owns a block industry in Bauchi State near the home of the former governor of Bauchi State–an area densely populated by Boko Haram operatives.
According to the source, “the northern governors are overwhelmed. They are aware of the capabilities of the Boko Haram operatives operating in their respective states. Some of the State government officials visit the terrorist groups in their training camps to watch the training exercises.
“We train harder than the Nigerian military and they see it” said the source while ‘lamenting’ that the governor continue to tell the President that the menace of Boko Haram is under control. [myad]

Army Chief Confesses: Most Soldiers Are Cowards, Deserters

Greenbarge Reporters

July 19, 2014

Nigerian Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Lt-Gen. Kenneth Minimah has confirmed that most soldiers fighting Boko Haram insurgents are cowards, lack discipline and are deserters.

He made it clear that the greatest impediments in the fight against Boko Haram terrorist fighters are these acts of cowardice, indiscipline and desertion from duty within the rank and files of the Nigerian military.

The Defence Headquarters (DHQ) stated this through its twitter handle @DefenceInfoNG as one of the highlights of Minimah, during the just concluded “COAS 3rd Quarter Conference 2014” in Abuja, with General Officers Commanding (GOCs) and other Operational Commanders.

The Army Chief had, during the event, frowned at what he described as “the rising acts of indiscipline and unprofessional conduct by troops”.

He recalled the attempted mutiny by troops in Maiduguri, the Borno State capital, against the then GOC 7 Division, Maj.Gen Ahmadu Mohammed.

The COAS blamed this on the fact that most people who joined the military in recent times, do so out of the need for employment and not passion for military service. [myad]

Love At First Sight Is Real, By Jonathan O’Callaghan

Greenbarge Reporters

July 19, 2014

A study by University of Chicago researchers suggests the difference between love and lust might be in the eyes after all.

Specifically, where your date looks at you could indicate whether romance or passion is on the cards.

The research found that eye patterns concentrate on a stranger’s face if the viewer sees that person as a potential partner in romantic love, but the viewer gazes more at the other person’s body if he or she is feeling sexual desire.

University of Chicago researchers say the direction of a person’s gaze can indicate their feelings for another when they first meet them (stock image shown). They found that where a person looked at another determined ‘love or lust’. Students were asked to view photographs of strangers in the study

The report was published in the journal Psychological Science

Lead author Stephanie Cacioppo of the University of Chicago said that although ‘little is currently known about the science of love at first sight or how people fall in love, these patterns of response provide the first clues regarding how automatic attentional processes, such as eye gaze, may differentiate feelings of love from feelings of desire toward strangers.’

The automatic judgment of love or lust can apparently occur in as little as half a second, producing different gaze patterns.

Previous research by Cacioppo has shown that different networks of brain regions are activated by love and sexual desire.

In this study, the team performed two experiments to test visual patterns in an effort to assess two different emotional and cognitive states that are often difficult to disentangle from one another – romantic love and sexual desire (lust).

Male and female students from the University of Geneva viewed a series of black-and-white photographs of persons they had never met.

In part one of the study, participants viewed photos of young, adult heterosexual couples who were looking at or interacting with one another.

In part two, participants viewed photographs of attractive individuals of the opposite sex who were looking directly at the camera or viewer.

None of the photos contained nudity or erotic images.

In both experiments, participants were placed before a computer and asked to look at different blocks of photographs and decide as rapidly and precisely as possible whether they perceived each photograph or the persons in the photograph as eliciting feelings of sexual desire or romantic love.

The study found no significant difference in the time it took subjects to identify romantic love versus sexual desire, which shows how quickly the brain can process both emotions, the researchers believe.

But analysis of the eye-tracking data from the two studies revealed marked differences in eye movement patterns, depending on whether the subjects reported feeling sexual desire or romantic love.

People tended to visually fixate on the face, especially when they said an image elicited a feeling of romantic love.

However, with images that evoked sexual desire, the subjects’ eyes moved from the face to fixate on the rest of the body.

The effect was found for male and female participants.

‘By identifying eye patterns that are specific to love-related stimuli, the study may contribute to the development of a biomarker that differentiates feelings of romantic love versus sexual desire,’ said co-author John Cacioppo, director of the Center for Cognitive and Social Neuroscience.

‘An eye-tracking paradigm may eventually offer a new avenue of diagnosis in clinicians’ daily practice or for routine clinical exams in psychiatry and/or couple therapy. [myad]

Jesus Not Crucified, 1,500 Year-Old Bible Found In Turkey Says

Greenbarge Reporters

July 19, 2014

Over a 1,500-year-old Bible which rejected the crucifixion of Jesus Christ has been found in Turkey.
Reports say the Turkish government has transferred the book which was discovered and kept secret in Turkey for 2,000 to the Ethnography Museum of Ankara with a police escort.
Meanwhile, Vatican authorities are said to have called on the Turkish government to allow its experts to examine the content of the book.
This is even as the authorities in Ankara said that the said Bible had been snatched from a mob of smugglers in a Mediterranean region operation.
The book is said to contain the Gospel of Barnabas, a disciple of Christ, and says that Jesus had not been crucified but ascended to heaven alive. St. Barnabas was an early Christian and is traditionally identified as the founder of the Cypriot Church.
It also says Jesus was not the son of God but a prophet who spoke the word of God, calling Apostle Paul “The Impostor.”
The text maintains a vision similar to Islam, contradicting the New Testament’s teachings of Christianity.
The ancient book also foresees the coming of Islam’s Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him).
It is hand written in Syriac, a dialect of Aramaic, which is said to be the native language of Jesus Christ.
Some experts and religious figures believe that the book is original. [myad]

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