Boko Haram says force will not help free French hostages

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A Nigerian Islamist group warned against the use of force to free a French man and six members of his family kidnapped in Cameroon in a video aired on Thursday.

Tanguy Moulin-Fournier was kidnapped on February 19 along with his wife, four children aged between five and 12, and brother while vacationing in northern Cameroon.

"We are proud to say that we are holding the seven French hostages," said a Boko Haram member in the video aired by France's i-Tele channel with French sub-titles.

The man is shown holding an assault rifle and the family is shown to the left of the screen in the grainy images.

Islamist group says executes seven foreign hostages, Nigeria doubts report

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RIYADH/LAGOS (Reuters) – A Nigerian Islamist group said on Saturday it had killed seven foreign hostages seized last month from a construction firm’s compound in northern Nigeria, where Islamist insurgents have killed hundreds over the past two years.

But Nigerian authorities said they had no information on any such killing, and doubted the veracity of the statement.

Before Him, The Govt Didn’t Care About Us…Now Children Have Everything – Venezuelan Says About Chave

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Venezuelans filed past the open casket of late President Hugo Chavez as he lay in state on Thursday after throngs of weeping loyalists gave the firebrand leftist a rousing farewell on the streets.

As Venezuelans began three days of goodbyes, an election to succeed Chavez loomed, after the curtain came down on a 14-year socialist presidency that heightened class tensions in the oil-rich South American nation.

Hundreds of thousands waved flags and chanted “Chavez lives” as his hearse crawled across the capital Wednesday in a seven-hour trip from the hospital where he died to the academy he once called his second home.

Expert Says Nigerian Education Curriculum Responsible For Unemployment

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The Founder of the Centre for Applied Thinking, Josefu Adeyeni on Wednesday said the Nigerian Educational curriculum is structured in a way that graduates are prepared to be job seekers rather than job creators.

Speaking as a guest on Channels Television’s breakfast programme, Sunrise Daily, Mr Adeyeni said the Nigerian educational system is using the 20th century curriculum to prepare 21st century people.

He said though the Bloom’s Taxonomy, which guided the curriculum structure in Nigeria education and was prepared in 1956, was revised in 2001, the country still use the old version which emphasised preparation for job after graduation.

Nigerians remained indebted to Obasanjo, says Jonathan

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Abuja – President Goodluck Jonathan has congratulated former President Olusegun Obasanjo on his 76^th birthday.

This is contained in a statement issued in Abuja on Tuesday by the Special Adviser on Media and Publicity to the President, Dr Reuben Abati.

The statement quoted the president as saying that Nigerians remained indebted to Obasanjo for his efforts at ensuring peace, stability and development of the country.

Danjuma Says Nigeria Is Facing A Civil War

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A former Minister of Defence, General Theophilous Danjuma (retired), who was on Saturday conferred with an Honorary Doctorate Degree of Science at a special convocation ceremony of the Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria, has warned that the activities of the Boko Haram sect, kidnappings and other social vices in the northern part of Nigeria were drifting the region into a civil war and anarchy.

Former Minister of Defence, General Theophilous Danjuma (retired)

Speaking shortly after he was conferred with the doctorate degree, General Danjuma said the current security and developmental challenges facing the country and the north in particular have become worrisome that if not properly addressed on time could lead to anarchy and lawlessness.

Akon Sued For Stage Diving On Concert Worker While Perfroming - He Crippled Me Says The Man

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A concert worker says he's physically disabled right now now now ... and it's all Akon's fault -- after the singer allegedly stage dove right on top of the guy, causing him permanent injury.

A man named Matthew Graham has filed a lawsuit against the singer, claiming he was working Akon's show at BayFest music festival in Alabama back in 2009 -- when Akon "negligently or wantonly leapt into the overcrowded mass of concertgoers" and struck him. See video below (scroll to 00:50).

45,000 ghost workers on payroll, says Fed Govt

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Fourty-five thousand ghost workers have been uncovered in 215 Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) of government under the Integrated Payroll and Personal Information System (IPPIS), the Federal Government said yesterday.

Briefing State House Correspondents after the Federal Executive Council meeting chaired by President Goodluck Jonathan in Abuja, the Minister of State for Finance, Yerima Ngama said the IPPIS was introduced to enhance efficiency in personnel cost, planning and budgeting on actual verified number and not estimates.

According to him, the government has audited 215 MDAs and 153,019 workers as of January this year.

The minister said that 321 MDAs have not been captured in the IPPIS, adding that government has also established the Treasury Single Account (TSA) as a unified structure of government bank account, which gives a consolidated view of the cash position.

Deep-Voiced Men Have Lower Sperm Counts, Study Says

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Listen up, ladies: The deep timbre of a male voice may sound attractive, but low-voiced men actually tend to have lower sperm counts, a new study says. Multiple studies have found that women usually favor masculine features, such as prominent jaws, high muscle mass, and low-pitched voices.

The theory is that these traits signal a high-quality mate—for instance, it's been proposed that masculine men generally have more robust amounts of sperm. But the new research revealed that, while deep voices are attractive to women, low-pitched men actually tended to have lower concentrations of sperm in their ejaculate.The finding suggests that men who evolutionarily invest most of their energy into making themselves attractive to females may suffer deficiencies in other areas—in this case, sperm counts. For instance, the male hormone testosterone—which lowers voice pitch—can thwart sperm production.

No regret dropping Osaze, others – Keshi •Says 1994 squad better

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Super Eagles coach Stephen Keshi has said that he does not need all the good players in Nigeria to build a strong team and as such does not regret leaving out any player for the African cup. Keshi dropped West Bromwich striker Osaze Odemwingie and Levante top scorer Obafemi Martins and kept faith in many players who had not appeared in any major international tournament at the senior level – some of them were picked from the Nigerian league.

The coach said most Nigerians did not understand why he dropped the players, noting that the present team has performed excellently without the players he rejected.

They Can’t Beat Us, Says PDP Chair Tukur

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A merger of opposition parties cannot defeat the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2015 general elections, PDP national chairman of the PDP, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur said yesterday. Reacting to the merging of four opposition parties yesterday, Tukur said the merger does not constitute any threat to the ruling party in future elections. With palpably feigned enthusiasm, the PDP chairman described the merger as “beautiful”, adding “the more the merrier”.

Apparently trying to make light of the threat, the chairman said the PDP remained unfazed by the merger, inferring that the ruling party would always have its way. Tukur said: “We are the only party. That shows the acceptance. It is the party in government now that is in the majority. It does not mean that we want to be one party without opposition. In fact, opposition is a charge to action.

Drogba says It is over

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JOHANNESBURG (AFP) – Ivory Coast legend Didier Drogba is unsure of his international future after a shock weekend exit from the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations his country were favoured to win.

Drogba, the 34-year-old former Chelsea striker playing in the African football showcase for the last time, was well policed as Nigeria won the quarter-final 2-1 in north-western mining town Rustenburg.

Pastor Fireman Replies Critics Of His Hot Girls Church Poster, Says He Is Following The Example Of J

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Pastor Fireman has replied critics on his use of hot girls as poster for advertising his church. Last year, We saw the above poster of Pastor Fireman advertising his church. So this came as a shock to many who didn’t think it was normal for a pastor to use this approach.  It has been almost a year now but a lady, Whitney Chad, supposedly Pastor Fireman’s rep has now addressed this issue in a message to Myne Whiteman’s blog.

The “Hot Girls” flyer of Sign Fireman caused quite a stir recently. Different people had different things to say about it. According to the pastor: “The point is that God sent me to bring Twenty-First Century innovations that will change Christianity and make it have more results. Let me give you an example.

“My Religion Is Humanity” – Bollywood Star, Shah Rukh Khan Says

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Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan on Tuesday spoke out strongly about an issue which has led to a diplomatic war of words between politicians in his country and in fellow Asian country and neighbour, Pakistan.

The controversy began after Khan wrote a piece called ‘Being a Khan’ for Indian weekly Outlook. In it, he spoke about being targeted as a Muslim actor. “Stereotyping and contextualising is the way of the world we live; a world in which definition has become central to security,” he wrote. “We create little image boxes of our own. One such box has begun to draw its lid tighter and tighter at present. It is the box that contains an image of my religion in millions of minds.”

MEND Threat: Jomo Gbomo says Nigerians should disregard it

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Another faction of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) led by Jomo Gbomo released a statement yesterday asking Nigerians to disregard the recent threat by a  self-acclaimed leader of the group, Comrade Azizi, to unleash  mayhem in Nigeria following the jailing of Henry Okah by a South African court for terrorism.

Jomo Gbomo says it's all hogwash. See his statement below...

"The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) wishes to advise Nigerians and the media to disregard the pathetic attempt at propaganda by a so-called Comrade Azizi and his statements which are not authentic and statements emanating from MEND.

"As claimed by this Comrade Azizi, the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) would like to clarify the following....

President not responsible for police college decay –Obi •Governor says no clue yet on floating corps

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Anambra State Governor, Peter Obi, on Friday said President Goodluck Jonathan was not responsible for the decay in the Police College, Ikeja, Lagos as exposed by a private television station recently.

He, however, said the administration was working hard to solve the problem and others facing security agencies in the country.Obi spoke with State House correspondents at the end of a meeting of the Police Fund Committee chaired by Vice-President Namadi Sambo.

He said Jonathan was committed to changing the fortunes of all security agencies in the country, especially the police.

Good Riddance To Catholics, They’re Arrogant, CAN Says

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The Christian Association of Nigeria has reacted to the withdrawal of the Catholic Church in Nigeria to pull out of the association, saying they are free to leave.

Speaking on the Catholics’ withdrawal Wednesday, spokesperson for the 19 Northern chapters of CAN, Sunny Oibe, told journalists in Abuja the Catholics were free to go away, the  Punch newspaper is reporting this morning.

He also accused the Christian denomination of arrogance, saying they were merely angry because the presidency of the association had moved to another bloc of the group.

Daughter Beats 92-year-old Grandma To Death, Says Her Grandmother Was A Demon

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A WOMAN who allegedly stomped her 92-year-old grandmother because she feared the old woman was possessed by a demon may face stiff penalties now that the victim has died. Angela Armstrong died recently at a hospital in St. Louis Country, Mo, following the November 21 attack by her granddaughter, Rachel Armstrong. The younger woman threw her grandmother down the stairs before stomping her, which left Angela with broken arms and eight cracked ribs.

Jonathan may not rule beyond 2015 – Dokubo-Asari …says quarrel with Obasanjo unnecessary

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Leader of the Niger Delta Peoples Volunteers Force, Alhaji Mujahid Dokubo-Asari, has declared that President Goodluck Jonathan may not rule beyond 2015.  Dokubo-Asari based his statement on the facts that the President had lost the support of his political stronghold-South/East and South/South, going by the result of the 2011 presidential election. The Ijaw activist had in March this year declared that Jonathan would occupy the Presidential Villa for eight years from 2011.

Sack Workers To Save Economy, Sanusi Tells Govt •Says 36 States Unsustainable; 774 LGAs Waste Of Public Funds

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Mallam Lamido Sanusi.  Source

GOVERNOR of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, has asked the Federal Government to downsize the labour force if it must achieve anything meaningful as far as economic resuscitation is concerned in the country.

Sanusi, who also insisted on total fuel subsidy removal, took a swipe at the Nigerian political system, asking for an inexpensive government system that will bring down overhead cost and liberate capital for infrastructural development. These calls were made during his presentation at the second Annual Capital Market Committee retreat that was held on Tuesday, in Warri, Delta State. To Sanusi, it is illogical for a country to have its economy developed when it spends 70 per cent of its revenue  in servicing salaries and gratuities of workers.