#2 of 5 Richest Kings In Africa

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Oba Obateru Akinrutan, Ugbo Land, Nigeria

Estimated net worth: $300  million

Source: Oil

Oba Obateru Akinrutan is the Olugbo (traditional King) of Ugbo land, a small oil-rich community in Ondo state, in Nigeria’s southwestern region. Oba Akinrutan, who ascended the throne in 2009, is also the founder of Obat Oil, one of Nigeria’s largest privately-held oil trading companies. He founded the company in 1981 with a single gas station to meet the needs of his family and neighboring community. OBAT Oil now owns more than 50 gas stations across Nigeria as well as one of the largest tank farms in Africa- a modern storage facility that has the capacity to store 65 million liters of petroleum products. He also owns an extensive portfolio of prime commercial and residential real estate in London and Nigeria, including the landmark Febson Hotels and Mall in the Central Business District of Abuja.

    

Source: Forbes

Turkish soldiers fire tear gas, water cannon at Kurdish protesters

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Turkish soldiers on Wednesday fired tear gas and a water cannon at Kurds protesting plans to build a military barracks in the southeast of the country.

Soldiers launched an operation early Wednesday to break up a 12-day sit-in by some 400 protesters in the Lice district of Kurdish majority Diyarbakir province.

Protesters hurled stones and fireworks at the soldiers, an AFP reporter witnessed. Clashes were still ongoing and there were no immediate reports of casualties or arrests.

The demonstrators are against the construction of new army posts in Kurdish majority areas which they see as a threat to a peace process launched in 2012 between government and the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).

The local governor's office in Diyarbakir on Monday called for additional security forces to face what it said was increased activity by the PKK.

The rebels declared a ceasefire in March 2013, but the peace process appeared to stall in September after the Kurdish rebels announced they were suspending their retreat from Turkish soil, accusing the government of failing to deliver on promised reforms.

The PKK, which is blacklisted as a terrorist organization by Turkey and much of the international community, launched an insurgency seeking self-rule in the southeast in 1984 that claimed about 45,000 lives.

Syria's presidential election meet int'l standards - Russian monitor

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The presidential elections in Syria meet international standards commonly recognized and all statements about these elections being farce are unsound and politically motivated, Russian Federation Council international affairs committee member Igor Morozov said. Morozov monitors the elections within a group of Russian parliamentarians and Russian Central Election Committee representatives.

"We had the opportunity to go to many polling stations in Damascus and outside the Syrian capital and we state officially that these elections meet international standards commonly recognized," Morozov told Interfax on the telephone from Damascus on June 3.

Uchenna Nnanna Won’t Dump Acting After Marriage - Associate

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Shortly after tying the knots with her Spain-based husband, Richard Uchechukwu Maduka, Nollywood actress, Uchenna Nnanna, left the shores of Nigeria to stay with her man. The couple walked down the aisle on April 21, 2014 in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.
The wedding was attended by friends and associates of the couple and the beautiful pictures of the wedding showed that the actress was happy that she has now finally hooked Richard.

Nigerian Banker Withdraws Cash From 12 Customers’ Accounts

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A customer care officer with a new generation bank’s branch at Alaba, Ojo, Lagos, Binutiri Aribidesi Sodiq, 26, has been arrested by the police at Zone 2 Command, Onikan, Lagos, western Nigeria, for allegedly withdrawing cash from the accounts of twelve customers of the bank without authorization.  After investigation by Warrant Inspector Dorcas Dangbi and her team, the suspect was arraigned before an Igbosere Magistrates’ Court, Lagos, on a 13-count charge of felony to wit, stealing.

324 Lagos Bus Drivers Fail Hard Drugs, Alcohol, Eye Tests

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Out of the 500 commuter bus drivers screened by the Lagos State Government at two motor parks in the state, 324 of the drivers tested positive to hard drugs, high alcoholic intake and bad eyesight.

The drivers were tested recently at the T&M CMS and CMS-Epe Motor Parks at Marina, Lagos, southwest Nigeria.  They were screened for high blood pressure, diabetes, eye disease, blood alcohol content (BAC) and narcotics during a five-day screening, awareness and sensitization campaign organized by the Lagos State Ministry of Health.

Video: Between Oukupe and Stephen on 'hardTalk"

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Video: Lady who got contaminated with HIV after being gang-raped tells her story

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EFCC arraigns House of Rep member over dud cheques worth ₦125m

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A member of Nigeria's House of Representative, Hon Aliyu Gebi representing Bauchi Federal Constituency was today arraigned before a Federal High Court in Abuja on a 13-count charge of issuing dud cheques worth over 125 million Naira to one Usman Mustapha, Sahara Reporters reports.

According to papers filed by the EFCC, one of the charges against Gebi read "That you, Hon. Aliyu Gebi, being the owner and sole signatory of Craft Technology Ltd and Craft Technology Ltd on or about the 12/01/2012 at Abuja Judicial Division of the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory did obtain credit by issuing a UBA Plc cheque No. 00091852 in the sum of N10,000.000.00 (Ten Million naira) only in favour of Musty Petroleum Ltd. which when presented within three months was dishonored on the ground that there was insufficient fund in the account and thereby committed an offense punishable under section 1 (b) (I)  of the dishonored cheque ( offences) Act, 2004 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria.”

Facebook deletes FEMEN movement's account without any explanation

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The administration of Facebook has deleted the account of FEMEN International that had more than 80,000 subscribers.

"For the first time, the Facebook administration accused FEMEN in 'propagation of pornography'; this time it didn't explain the reason," the statement published on FEMEN's website says.

FEMEN's representatives think that the administration of Facebook has decided to do this as a result of the growing popularity of "the international movement against censorship of women's breasts on the Internet."

Erdogan accuses int'l media of spying, stirring unrest in Turkey

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Turkey's embattled prime minister lashed out at international media on Tuesday, accusing news outlets of stirring unrest during the one-year anniversary of mass anti-government protests, AFP news agency reports. Recep Tayyip Erdogan singled out CNN International, whose reporter was arrested live on air last Saturday while covering street clashes, accusing the network of spying.

"International media organizations who came to Istanbul for provocative and exaggerated broadcasts were left empty-handed," Erdogan told members of his ruling AKP party in an apparent reference to the incident.

Ukraine Crisis Part 2 - Live Updates: 'Lugansk People's Republic's' health minister killed - militia

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For more recent video or update visit facebook page 'southfronteng' 

The health minister of the "Lugansk People's Republic" was killed by a bomb allegedly dropped on the regional administration headquarters by a Ukrainian government warplane on Monday, a spokesman for the unilaterally proclaimed republic said.

"Our minister of health, Natalya Arkhipova, was killed because of the bombing of the building of the regional administration by the air force," the spokesman told Interfax. "Apparently, she was standing on the front door porch speaking to another woman during the air raid."

Voting in Syria presidential election extended by five hours

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Voting in Syria's presidential election, being held Tuesday, has been extended by five hours to allow more people to participate, state television said. "The high electoral committee has decided to extend the election for five hours, because of the massive influx of voters," until midnight (21:00 GMT), it stated. President Bashar al-Assad, who has been fighting a three-year old revolt against his rule, is expected to win the vote.

More than 162,000 people have been killed and millions have been forced to flee their homes in the three years since the civil broke out in 2011.

#3 of 11 World Most influential Women 2014

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Oprah Winfrey, Media Mogul, U.S.A
The 60 year-old media mogul is the only real African-American billionaire on the planet with a net worth estimated at $3 billion. Winfrey hit the big style through her flagship daytime TV show which aired for 25 years between 1986 and 2011, before she bowed out to channel her energies to her own cable network, OWN. The once-struggling network became cash-flow positive in 2013. Winfrey was element of a consortium of billionaires that included Oracle CEO Larry Ellison and billionaire media executive David Geffen who bid for LA Clippers basketball team but lost to former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer. One of many world's most generous women, she's given millions to educational causes across the entire world, one of them being the $100 million she's allocated to the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls in South Africa.

    

#4 of 11 World Most influential Women 2014

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Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Coordinating Minister of the Economy and Minister of Finance, Nigeria

The Nigerian economist could be the country's Coordinating Minister of the Economy. She was appointed by Nigeria's President Goodluck Jonathan in 2011 while she was a Managing Director at the World Bank. She once was Minister of Finance throughout the tenure of former president Olusegun Obasanjo.

    

#5 of 11 World Most influential Women 2014

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Beyonce Knowles, Musician, U.S.A
2013 was an eventful year for Beyonce. She sang for President Obama, performed at the Super Bowl, and headlined the  most profitable tour of the season by shocking the entire world with a shock “visual album” in December. It became iTunes'fastest-selling album ever, selling 828,773 units in the very first three days. Alongside husband Jay-Z, Beyonce will soon be co-headlining the On The Run Stadium Tour which begins on June 25, and will feature 18 shows across North America.

    

Photos: World Most influential Women 2014

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 See more photos bellow.

'B'haram attack is because Pres. GEJ won an election & some people are angry about it' - Okupe

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Addressing a concern on allegations that everyday a large number of bodies are being  transferred from the military headquarters prison called Dubar and deposited at a hospital in Maiduguri with the bodies showing signs of torture and brutality, he replied that the Nigerian Government and the military is struggling with an orchestrated plan  to cause disaffection, alleging that people that are angry with the fact Pres. Goodluck Jonathan won an election are doing everything inside their capacity to fight his government. What he said below

"You do not understand the holistic problem of Nigeria. President Jonathan has committed an offense. His major offense is that he won an election when some people in Nigeria, very strong and powerful feel that he ought not to have won and power ought not to be where it is currently resident. So people want to take this power by all means, at all cost, playing all sorts of gimmicks and all and they have a lot of money and a lot of influence both within Nigeria and outside Nigeria" he said. Continue.

Beyonce Flaunts her nlpples in new photos

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She also flaunted her hot and s3xy beach body in a backless bathing suit and denim shorts and snapshots of her playing with daughter Blue Ivy.  Beyonce The singer seems not be bothered about the recent elevator fight between her husband Jay Z and her sister Solange which went viral. Beyonce has been lambasted in the past for being too s3xy. When she performed 'Drunk in love' at the 2014 Grammy awards, she faced lots of criticisms for her provocative performance. This recent sexy selfie is sure to get tons of people talking. 

See the photo after the break and tell us what you think

Police Did not Ban Peaceful rallies

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*Only advisory notice issued

The Police High Command wishes to inform the general public that the Force has not issued any order banning peaceful assemblies/protests anywhere in Nigeria. It notes however that against the backdrop of current security challenges in the country, coupled with a recent intelligence report of a likely infiltration and hijack of otherwise innocuous and peaceful protests by some criminal elements having links with insurgents, the Police only issued advisory notice, enjoining citizens to apply caution in the said rallies, particularly in the Federal Capital Territory and its environs.

Producer Sossick involved in a terrible car accident (Photos)

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 Super producer/artiste resposible for giving us hits like “Julie'by Shank,'Ife wa gbono'by Tiwa Savage,”Pon pon pon” by Dagrin and a number of others, was involved in an incident last week on his way returning  from a meeting on the island. He suffered a fracture, cut to his tongue and bruises. He's currently receiving treatment at an exclusive hospital where close sources say he's answering attentively o treatment. 
Continue steadily to see more photos from the Accident.

Four-Storey Church Building Collapses In Onitsha

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Contrary to earlier reports, five persons is believed to be trapped in the rubble of an uncompleted four-storey building that collapsed on Monday in Onitsha, Anambra.

The News Agency of Nigeria, NAN, reports that the building, which collapsed at about 1:00pm., is part of a structure being erected for a primary school at St. Christopher’s Anglican Church, Odo-akpu, Onitsha.

According to an eyewitness, the collapsed building may have trapped at least five workers plastering its interior.

Great mistake ? World Cup - Keshi picks Yobo, drops Mba, Uzoenyi

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After hours of waiting on Monday, Stephen Keshi released the final World Cup list at midnight. And as the drama and suspense that preceded the release, the list also came with some surprises.

Joseph Yobo will play in his third FIFA World Cup finals and have opportunity to become Nigeria’s first-ever century — international after he was named in the African champions’ final list of 23 for Brazil 2014 but African Nations Championship Most Valuable Player, Ejike Uzoenyi and AFCON winner, Sunday Mba failed to make the final cut. Gabriel Rueben and Babatunde Michael made the list.

Men Supplying Ammunition to Boko Harams Nabbed

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The three suspects, who were heading to the North from Imo State, were intercepted in Nsukka, Enugu State, by officers and men of the Nigerian Army while travelling in a bus.Items recovered from them include 40 AK47 magazines, 4 boxes of AK47 live ammunition,100 pieces of live cartridges, one piece of Denin Mopol khaki and charms concealed in a cap.

Post Of The Day: Africa does not Need GMOs

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Zimbabwe will maintain a ban on GM crops and foods and announces that the government is working on initiatives to increase productivity in the country without resorting to GMOs. Zimbabwe is facing increasing pressure to allow GMOs into the country. Heck no, Monsanto. Africa doesn't need your GMOs.

FFK Dumps APC, Defects to PDP, Explains why

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Controversial and outspoken two-time former minister Femi Fani Kayode has left the APC and explains why he left the party in a statement released this evening...see below...

I declared for the APC in June last year in Ado Ekiti, Ekiti state well before the party was registered by INEC. I formally joined the party, amidst great fanfare, on 7th February 2014 in my hometown Ile-Ife and I registered my membership on that day. The registration was done outside the Ooni's palace and it was done in the prescence of the media, numerous party leaders in the state, including Hon. Rotimi Makinde, who represents Ile-Ife at the Federal House, and all the other key leaders of the APC in the state and Ife-Ife including Chief Akantioke and Alhaji Soko Adewoyin the former  Deputy Governor of Osun state. After registering we proceeded to pay a courtesy call on my traditional ruler, the Ooni of Ife, and from there I went to spend a few days with Governor Rauf Aregbesola who, together with Governor Kayode Fayemi, I am close to and I consider to be friends.

NATO stays in Afghanistan to expand to Central Asia

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US President Barak Obama says NATO is staying in Afghanistan all the way through 2016. To make the stay more comfortable the Alliance proceeds with securing its positions in oil-rich and otherwise important locations along the Russian and Chinese borders. How does NATO view its cooperation with the Central Asian states? Should Moscow see those moves as a challenge to its regional interests?

NATO doesn't have role as defensive alliance since Cold War end - expert

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On 30 May,1982 Spain joined NATO and became its sixteenth member. Since NATO's formation in 1949 the organization accepted new members six times and as of 2014 NATO unifies 28 states in Europe and North America. Michael Binyon, foreign affairs writer at The Times, expressed his opinion on exactly how reasonable a potential futher enlargement of NATO would be during his interview with Radio VR.

What are your forecasts for the further NATO enlargement? Would the organization manage to move eastward in Europe?

Washington seeks to build up forces on Russia's border, restart Cold War - former Reagan advisor

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 Paul Craig Roberts

What is your focus for the further NATO enlargement? Would the organization manage to move towards building up the bases in the Baltics and Eastern Europe?

The purpose of the call from Washington to build up forces on Russia’s border with Eastern Europe and the Baltics is to restart the cold war. Washington needs a threat in order to continue to supply hundreds of billions of dollars annually to its military security complex. This complex is very important to Washington. It is very powerful and much of the money that the tax payers are required to give up in order to fund in armament industry and the security industry, returns to politicians in form of campaign contributions.

Russia, China, non-aligned countries should call to abolish NATO - expert

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On 30 May 1982 Spain joined NATO and became its sixteenth member. Since NATO's formation in 1949 the organization accepted new members six times and as of 2014 NATO unifies 28 states in Europe and North America. Rick Rozoff, the owner and manager of the Stop NATO website and international mailing list, shared his views about the possibility of further NATO enlargement and on how should the international community and Russia react to it during his interview with VR.

What are your forecasts for the further NATO enlargement? Would the organization manage to move eastward in Europe?

Obama in Poland: the real danger is from the West

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On June 3-4 president Barack Obama is going to Poland before moving on to the G7 summit in Brussels. Obama’s visit  is theoretically devoted to the celebrations for the 25th anniversary of Poland’s first post-communist parliamentary election,  in 1989.

Obama though is unlikely to talk much about the past, he is much more likely to want to discuss the future, especially about the "containment" of Russia (the State Department’s new policy line on Russia, first hailed by the former US ambassador to Moscow, Michael McFaul, in his recent opinion piece in The New York Times).

Read more: Russia, China, non-aligned countries should call to abolish NATO - expert

In Warsaw, Obama will meet the Polish and American pilots of the Poland-based F16 fighter jets, a new symbol of this "new" containment. (It should not be forgotten that the "old" containment policy was launched in late 1940s on the advice of the great American diplomat George F. Kennan, also a former ambassador to Moscow, who  from the 1990s opposed NATO’s expansion and other hostile US and allied action against the new, non-communist Russia.)

Pics: Chibok girls who escaped from Boko Haram visit Borno State Governor

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 The Chibok girls who allegedly escaped from their Boko Haram abductors today June 2nd visited the Borno state Governor in his office today. See more photos after the break...

Coach Stephen Keshi releases 23-man list for the 2014 World Cup

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Super Eagles head coach, Stephen Keshi has released his 23 man list for the 2014 World Cup starting in a few weeks. See below

Goalkeepers:

Vincent Enyeama (Lille/FRA), 

Chigozie Agbim (Gombe United),

Austin Ejide (/ISR)

Sudan retracts claim that woman sentenced to death is going to be freed

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A few days ago, we heard that Meriam Ibrahim, the woman sentenced to death in Sudan for apostasy will soon be freed after the country's Foreign Minister Abdullahi Alzareg was quoted as saying that Sudan was committed to protecting the woman. But according to new reports, that's not happening as the Foreign Minister is now saying quotes attributed to him was taken out of context. 

The country has officially denied that Meriam would soon be released. Now they are saying Meriam's release will depend on whether a court accepted an appeal request made by her defence team.

'We don't need foreign assistance, Nigeria can solve Chibok problem alone' - Chimamanda Adichie

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While speaking at the 2014 Hay Festival for Literature and Arts in Wales recently, award-winning Nigerian writer, Chimamanda Adichie expressed her reservations on the foreign assistance Nigeria is receiving on the missing chibok school girls. Adichie said the foreign government should focus on solving their own problems and leave Nigeria to deal with theirs

"Now we have American drones helping us in this forest and even the French have sent in people – shouldn’t they be fixing their own economy? We can solve our own damn problems. I’m sure that there are hunters in that area who know that forest very well. Why haven’t they been used? Why aren’t we depending on them? What we need is a better equipped military, a better trained military. We don’t need Americans to send people in" she said.

 Continue.

Female Pastor Burns 10 Year Old House Girl’s Face With A Hot Spoon

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Pastor Fine Oru, who reportedly burnt the face of her 10 year old niece, Grace Opion, with a hot spoon, has been arrested by Police from the Azikoro Police Division in Bayelsa.
Oru is the Assistant General Overseer of the ‘Heart Beat of God Bible Church,’ on Ompadec road, in Yenagoa,

Oru, 46, hails from Otueke, the Ogbia local government area of Bayelsa , and resides at the Egbenda community, off Ox-Bow road, in Yenagoa.  Opion, according to Oru, is the daughter of her younger sister, who is a pupil at Kingdom Success Academy, within the neighbourhood.
Continue..

Tragedy: Man lost his life on PHCN power line poles in Calabar

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In early hours of this morning, residents in the Government Technical College, Lemna, Calabar, woke up to discover a man dried on PHCN power line poles, electrocuted. One resident said their lights went very early in the morning and they thought it absolutely was the typical PHCN blackout, only to get the man hanging from the poles at the break of dawn.  Police and other security agencies have arrived the area and efforts are ongoing to bring the man down and make proper identifications. 
R.I.P

Brazilian Football icon, Pele's son Sentenced To 33 Years In Jail

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This may  break the heart of his 73 year-old father. Edson Cholbi do Nascimento, the 3rd son of Brazilian legend, Abedi Pele has been sentenced to 33 years in jail for money-laundering. Edinho as fondly called who played as a goalkeeper for Santos in 1995 was once detained for drug trafficking offences some years back but was later released.  The 43 year-old who was simply connected with a notorious drug dealer and several drug gangs in Santos is currently retired but works as a goalkeeping coach in the club. He's expected to make appeal in few days. 

GEJ's secret negotiator cllaims Chibok girls are very ill

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Some of the 219 schoolgirls still in the custody of Boko Haram insurgents have taken ill, according to a prominent Australian cleric, Dr. Stephen Davis.

Davis, a   hostage negotiator, said   the online publication of a British newspaper,The Mail on Sunday, was   hired by President Goodluck Jonathan to broker the release of the girls.

According to the newspaper, the clergyman who was once the Canon Emeritus at the Coventry Cathedral in London and a friend of The Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby,   has been in Nigeria   working secretly on the release of the girls   for almost a month now.

It added that he was asked by the President to come to Nigeria after previously brokering a truce between the Federal Government and Niger Delta militants in 2004.

‘Nigerians own 70 per cent houses on London’s expensive street’

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About 70 per cent of the most expensive buildings in London are owned by Nigerians, the Chairman, New Nation, an empowerment-oriented group, Mr. Charles Dukwe, has said.

He added that citizens of the United Kingdom avoided buying houses in the area due to their expensive prices.

The philanthropist spoke with newsmen in Port Harcourt on Saturday shortly after unveiling the Queen of Compassion and Kill the Killers Initiative, a grass roots campaign against diabetes and high blood pressure.

Present at the event as brand ambassadors were Nollywood stars such as Ini Edo, Uche Jombo, Monalisa Chinda and Desmond Elliot.