JONATHAN REINSTATES KESHI

Stephen Keshi is set to return as the coach of Nigeria barely two weeks after he was relieved of his position by the Nigeria Football Federation. The PUNCH learnt on authority that Keshi is returning on the orders of President Goodluck Jonathan.

A person with detailed information of happenings at the NFF Secretariat told our correspondent on Thursday that it was only a matter of time before the official announcement would be made by the Federation.

He said, “It is not a question of if he is truly coming back to the Eagles but a matter of when he is resuming and how much he is going to earn.

“This is not an FA decision; this was passed down directly to them from far above and the message was not passed through a third party in the name of special adviser but a direct mouth to ear briefing.”

View inside America's most expensive house valued for $139million

Who wan buy? America's most expensive home is up for sale and it could be all yours for just $139m

The massive estate named 'Le Palais Royal' - The Royal Palace, is situated in the seafront of Millionaires Mile, Hillsboro Beach, Florida. It boasts of a 22-carat gold leaf gate, a $2million marble staircase and the first-ever IMAX Theatre to be contracted for private use.

The estate, which spans over 60,000 square feet, comes complete with 11 bedrooms, 17 bathrooms, 4,500-square-foot pool, a 12-foot cascading waterfall, double loop LED-lit waterslide, fire pit, swim-up bar for outdoor entertaining, a 492-foot private dock that can accommodate up to a 185-foot mega yacht and an underground garage with parking for over 30 cars.

It is the most expensive home publicly listed for sale in the US. See inside the house after the cut...

Federal Government set to ban ‘ponmo’

POMO

Federal Government may have concluded plans to ban sale and widespread consumption of hides and skins(Ponmo)which is a delicacy to most Nigerians.

This indication emerged Tuesday  when the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr. Akinwunmi Adesina called for competent regulations that would check the consumption and sale of the product.

He said this at the 3rd joint anniversary of Animal Science Association of Nigeria (ASAN) and Nigeria Institute of Animal Science held at the University of Ibadan.

Chime redeploys impeached dep gov to civil service

A former deputy governor of Enugu State, Mr. Sunday Onyebuchi, has been redeployed to the state civil service.

A source in the Government House informed our correspondent that the development followed Onyebuchi’s impeachment, and the subsequent appointment of a new deputy governor.

Onyebuchi was a staff of the Enugu State Civil Service before his appointment to political office.

However, the source, who did not wish to be named, did not disclose the particular ministry, department or agency of the government to which Onyebuchi was redeployed.

The former deputy governor’s current rank in the service was also not disclosed.

The Essential Dora Akunyili Lives- Ojo Maduekwe

A few months before Professor Dora Akunyili was appointed National Conference member, she sent me a text message with a United States number to say she had just been through a major health challenge but was improving. I eventually met her in Nigeria some weeks later.

For someone who had been through the valley of the shadow of death, she looked remarkably strong, and was clearly vibrant. She definitely was not the same Dora that was shown on the internet when she took her place at the National Conference shortly after I visited her. It was subsequently argued on the social media, partly out of genuine concern by some, and partly out of other considerations by others, as to whether it would have been better for her to excuse herself from the rigors of the conference and proceed wherever, to take care of herself.

I read some of her responses to those suggestions at the time, and I said that was vintage Dora. Dora was too full of life to live it incrementally. Her passing away in the manner, time and context in which she took her final bow, brought to mind Dylan Thomas’ plea to a dying relative:

“Do not go gentle into that good night...
Rage, rage against the dying of the light”

Black Nigerian woman gives birth to white baby (Photos)

 A mother has beaten odds of a million-to-one by giving birth to a baby who appears to be of a different race.Catherine Howarth, 32, from Milton Keynes, is Nigerian by heritage, and so was, at first, a little taken aback when she saw her son Jonah for the first time.

With his pale skin, green eyes and light brown hair, Jonah, now three months old, looks like any other new-born baby - but, when seen in his mother's arms, his uniqueness is obvious.
Recalling the moment she delivered Jonah in Milton Keynes Hospital on June 1, his mother told the SundayMirror:

INCREDIBLE!!! Brazilian man born with his head upside-down

A man born with physical disabilities so severe his head is Upside-down has defied the odds to become an inspirational public speaker.

Claudio Vieira de Oliveira, 37, was born with his neck folded back on itself, as well as badly deformed legs and almost no use of his arms and hands. Doctors told his mother to stop feeding him as a newborn as they believed he had no chance of survival. But Claudio from Monte Santo, Brazil, has overcome his extreme disadvantages to graduate as an accountant and become a public speaker. Continue...

Ebola: Female doctor tests positive in Port Harcourt

A female doctor who was on admission at the Green Hart hospital where late Port Harcourt doctor, Iyke Enemoah, was treated after he got infected with the deadly virus by an ECOWAS official, has tested positive to Ebola.

Minister of Health, Prof Onyebuchi Chukwu revealed this today September 1st during a meeting of the National Emergency Council on Ebola outbreak in Nigeria. Continue...

Photo of Nigerian diplomat,Olu-Ibukun Koye who took Ebola to Port Harcourt

This is the first photo of Olu-Ibukun Koye ,the Nigerian diplomat working for ECOWAS, who escaped quarantine in Lagos and left for Port Harcourt .

He was one of the first who made contact with Liberian, Patrick Sawyer.Olu then defied instructions and ran to Port Harcourt to meet late doctor Iyke Enemuo who treated him in a hotel. Shortly after he was treated,he returned to Lagos where he was certified Ebola free.Ironically, Dr Iyke fell ill and died. His wife opened up and his corpse which was taken to a mortuary was tested positive for Ebola.

The late doctor's wife who is infected too is quarantined in Lagos. She has a 3 month old baby. According to reports,Olu may face manslaughter charges.

How I survived Ebola – Late nurse' fiance, Dennis Akagha speaks

Dennis Akagha, the fiance of Justina Ejelonu, the First Consultant Hospital nurse who died after being infected with the deadly Ebola virus by Liberian Patrick Sawyer, in this exclusive interview with Vanguard spoke about how his late fiancee contracted the deadly disease, how she lost their unborn child while battling with Ebola, and also revealed that Justina had just landed the job at the hospital and met Sawyer on her first day there. He also spoke on how he got infected with the virus and how he finally got discharged. Fimd the in-depth interview after the cut... 

On his relationship with the late Justina, Dennis said;

"The  truth is that Justina and I were not legally married, we were planning for our traditional marriage in October and she just got this job. She was a qualified graduate nurse and got the job at the First Consultant Hospital in Lagos. She resumed duty at the hospital on the 21st of July, while Patrick Sawyer was admitted at the hospital on the 20th. He was her first patient. She was one of the nurses that nursed him. She was pregnant and so her immune system was weak, which made it easy for her to contract the disease. On that first day which was a Monday, she was having some pregnancy symptoms, but I just encouraged her to go because it was her first day at work. Sawyer was her first patient. The next day,Tuesday, she didn’t work on Sawyer. Wednesday and Thursday, she was off. Then on Friday, Patrick Sawyer died. They didn’t know he had Ebola, it was three days later that they realized it was Ebola" he said

On how he found out she had contracted the deadly virus, he said

"It was after Sawyer died that she told me she nursed him but that she was on gloves. She even thanked God that she didn’t have direct contact with him. The fever continued and we thought it was just pregnancy symptoms and even when she went to her hospital, they confirmed the same thing. She took drugs and ran tests, yet it persisted. At night, she was usually cold and feverish and her body temperature was usually very high. At a point, I began to suspect that she had contacted the virus. I did some research on the disease and realised that she was having similar symptoms. On the 14th of August, it became serious, she started stooling and vomiting. I had to clean up everything. All of a sudden, she started bleeding and she started crying that she had lost the pregnancy. I had to call her relatives and other people. The bleeding persisted and I had to clean up everything. Initially I was not wearing gloves because I felt I had already been exposed to the virus. But later I cautioned myself and started wearing nylon on my hands. But I couldn’t stay away from her. I kept consoling her. Even when I took her to the hospital, she wanted to hold me and I told her to also consider my safety. She managed to hold herself and was able to find her way out in a pool of her blood. We chartered a taxi to the hospital, but first, I took her to First Consultant Hospital because I felt they should know more. When we got there, I was directed to IGH, Yaba. I told the taxi driver to take us there. The driver wasn’t even aware of what was going on as he took us to Yaba.  Justina was on the floor for 30 minutes before she was attended to. She was screaming that she was going to die. She was seriously bleeding, she had to come out of the taxi and lay on the floor. I ran around, trying to get doctors to attend to her. After everything, they took her in, took her blood samples and the following day, the result came out that it was Ebola. They washed the taxi with chlorine and also bathed the taxi driver and I with chlorine spray. At that point, the taxi driver knew what was going on, he couldn’t even take me home because he was so scared. I had to look for somewhere to pass the night in the hospital. Early the next morning, I left the Hospital. The taxi driver is alive today, nothing happened to him. We have been checking on him and the last time we spoke he told me, he was fine" he said.

Australian Negotiator Names Ihejirika, Sheriff as Sponsors of Boko Haram

A Perth-based international adviser, Dr. Stephen Davis, who for four months was involved in negotiations on behalf of the federal government with commanders of Boko Haram for the release of over 200 schoolgirls kidnapped by the sect last April, has named a former Governor of Borno State, Senator Ali Modu Sheriff, and a former Chief of Army Staff, Lt.-General Azubuike Ihejirika, as sponsors of Boko Haram.

Davis, who spoke yesterday in two separate interviews to Arise Television, a THISDAY sister company, also disclosed that a man resident in Abuja whose three nephews had been identified as being behind the Nyanya bus station bomb blast that killed 77 people, was one of the financiers of Boko Haram.

Davis, in an interview with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) on Wednesday had pointedly alleged that one of the primary sources of funding of the terror group was Nigerian politicians, but failed to disclose their identities until his interview with Arise TV.

But in reaction to the allegation, Ihejirika and Sheriff angrily dismissed the allegation, saying they had nothing to benefit from the sponsorship of Boko Haram.

However, a former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nasir el-Rufai, has called for their prosecution and expressed hope that the authorities will take the steps necessary to act on this revelation.

In his interview with Arise TV, Davis said he had been informed by Boko Haram commanders whom he dealt with that there are prominent politicians who have been sources of funding to Boko Haram, adding: “First thing to do is to arrest the former Governor Sheriff. Former Governor Sheriff has been funding this for years. He is satisfied that he will be picked up and he has now switched to the ruling party, PDP, in the hope this will give him protection.

“That guy is really a bad guy and he is known to be corrupt and why the EFCC has not picked him up is anybody’s guess.

“There is a former Chief of Army Staff, who retired in January, rightly sacked by the president, who is another sponsor.

MY RIVALRY WITH MESSI-RONALDO

Cristiano Ronaldo has insisted that he does not have a bad relationship with Lionel Messi, despite the perennial rivalry between both players.
The two footballers have dominated world football in the past few years and are widely accepted as the best of the two, as they have shared the Ballon d’Or prize between themselves for the last six years.
Ronaldo says that although he does not have a relationship with the Barcelona forward outside football, it is not as bad as the media paints it.
“It’s not at all true that we have a bad relationship. We are colleagues and have a professional relationship,” the Portugal star was quoted as saying by Marca.
“We don’t have a relationship outside of football like I have with some other players. He tries to do his best for his club and national team and I do the same. There is a certain rivalry where we are each doing our
utmost for our teams.
“This rivalry is part of my life. It is only normal that people compare us. The same happens in Formula 1 with Ferrari and Mercedes. I’m used to it. This has been the case not only since I joined Madrid, but already when I was still at Manchester United.
“I hope that we can both laugh about all this. Football is a game, it’s something fun and something we both like. We must face this rivalry in a positive way because it is a good thing. Football is something beautiful that all the fans enjoy.”

'I never went to university' - billionaire Folorunsho Alakija admits

One of Africa's richest women and chairman of Famfa Oil, Mrs Folorunsho Alakija yesterday August 27th revealed that she never went to a university, saying one does not need a university education to make it in life. Mrs Alakija said this while speaking with students of the University of Lagos during the 2014 UNInternational Youths Day in Lagos.

"I come from Ikorodu, Lagos state. I am married to a dashing young lawyer of 70 years of age and we have four grown up gentlemen and grandchildren. It has not been a rag to riches fairytale. It has not been an overnight phenomenon like some cases which you find here and there all over the world. For as long as I can remember, I had always wanted my own business. Hard work...am trying to tell you how I got to where I am if you want those billions. Hard work, diligence, persistence...days where you nearly gave up but I chose not to give up." 

NIGERIA LAUNCHES E-NATIONAL IDENTITY CARD SCHEME

iNgeria's President Goodluck Jonathan on Thursday launched a national electronic identity card scheme, which backers said would boost access to financial and government services in Africa's most populous nation.

The head of state was issued with his own card, which features a credit card-style chip with personal as well as biometric data and doubles up as a prepaid charge and debit card.

A number of Nigerian government agencies, from the police to the Independent National Electoral Commission, have embarked on their own separate ID card schemes.

NEW ENUGU DEPUTY GOVERNOR EMERGES

48 hours after Sunday Onyebuchi was impeached as the deputy governor of Enugu state for rearing chickens in his official quarters, members of the Enugu state house of Assembly today Aug. 28th, confirmed clergy man and politician, Ralph Nwoye (pictured above) as the new deputy governor of the state.

Mr Ralph Nwoye, a pastor of the Christ Ascension Church in Enugu, is said to be a former Local government chairman. He is expected to be sworn-in as deputy governor soon.

Manchester United have the most expensive squad ever assembled in the Premier League after Angel Di Maria's arrival pushed their combined value over the £400m mark

The current Manchester United squad cost £401.2m to assemble

It is the most expensive squad ever in the English game 

Angel Di Maria's move from Real Madrid for £60m has seen United overtake rivals Manchester City, whose squad was built for a combined £344.15m

United have also signed Luke Shaw, Ander Herrera and Marcos Rojo

Chelsea squad put together for £341.8m, Liverpool £245.8m and Arsenal £209.5m 

Manchester United are attempting to return to the summit of the Premier League with the most expensive squad ever assembled in the English game.

The arrival of Angel Di Maria this week takes the combined transfer fees of the United squad to an eye-watering £401.2million - and that figure could grow with new signings before the transfer window closes.

The value of United's squad now outstrips their neighbours and defending champions Manchester City, who are worth a collective £344.15m when the transfer fees are added up.

Expensive: Angel Di Maria's £60m move to Manchester United from Real Madrid has pushed the total transfer fees of United's squad beyond the £400 million mark

Chelsea come a close third on £341.8m following the acquisitions of Cesc Fabregas and Diego Costa over the summer.

City's title-winning squad from last season cost £364.7m to put together, while their successful team from the 2011-2012 season was worth £334.5m.

United have so far spent £131.7m on four players - Di Maria, Ander Herrera, Luke Shaw and Marcos Rojo - as Louis van Gaal desperately tries to strengthen a squad that slumped to seventh in the table last season.

But these big money signings are merely an escalation of United's exponential buying over the last decade with 17 members of the squad costing in excess of £10m when they arrived at the club.

Sharp-eyed Londoners point out that magician Dynamo's levitation stunt above the Shard is far from magic

He may have walked across the Thames and levitated from the side of a double-decker bus, but fans of magician Dynamo were left unimpressed after he appeared to float above the Shard today.

The 31-year-old magician was blasted on Twitter after the stunt, with users messaging to say 'you can literally see the wires'.

The magic performer had claimed to be floating 1,016ft above the streets of London earlier today, even tweeting a picture of the clouds along with a message 'the view is great up here #lookup

However social media users were quick to criticise the trick. Londoner Kimberley Barrett said: ‘Dynamo “levitating” on the shard, who saw the wires holding him? #Fail'

Claire Broad said: 'This is meant to be #Dynamo levitating above #TheShard. Can anyone elce see the wire? #Cheat,' while David Manning added: 'If you look closely what it actually shows is dynamo hanging by a wire.'

Dynamo, whose real name is Steven Frayne, shot to stardom after Dynamo: Magician Impossible became a huge hit, with more than 30million viewers in the UK and over 250million worldwide to date.

Boko Haram is funded by Nigerian politicians,may link up with ISIS-Australian Negotiator

 Australian hostage negotiator,Dr. Stephen Davis,has given a deeper insight into the Boko Haram group. Davis who worked as a negotiator on the Niger Delta militancy uprising,under the Obasanjo/Shehu Yar’Adua  administrations has alleged that Boko Haram is being funded by politicians and the group may soon link up with the dreaded ISIS.
In an interview posted by Radio Australia,he said ......

"That makes it easier in some ways as they can be arrested, but of course the onus of proof is high and many are in opposition, so if the President moves against them, he would be accused of trying to rig the elections due early next year.....

“So, I think this (insurgency) will run through to the election unabated. These politicians think that if they win power they can turn these terrorists off, but this has mutated.
It’s no longer a case of Muslims purifying by killing off Christians. They are just killing indiscriminately, beheading, disembowelling people – men, women and children and whole villages.” would say it’s almost beyond the control of the political sponsors now.Terror groups are linking up in Somalia, southern Sudan, Egypt and we have fairly strong evidence they are talking with ISIS members.They will link up with ISIS and Al Shabaab and I think that what we are seeing in that region is the new homeland of radical Islam in the world.”

EBOLA: A MEDICAL DOCTOR DIES IN PORT HARCOURT

Health minister Onyebuchi Chukwu has confirmed the first case of Ebola outside Lagos.Addressing reporters in Abuja today, he said the medic died on August 22 after treating a patient who had contact with Patrick Sawyer who brought the virus into Nigeria .

“Following the report of this death by the doctor’s widow the next day, the case had been thoroughly investigated and laboratory analysis showed that this doctor died from EVD (Ebola Virus Disease),” 

Pastor Commits Suicide After Impregnating Married Woman 4 Times [PICTURED]

After being slapped with a civil lawsuit of $10,000 for allegedly impregnating another man’s wife in February this year, Reverend Menard Zvenyika was due to appear before a disciplinary hearing of his church.

However, Zvenyika apparently couldn’t face the further humiliation and possible excommunication from the church, so he decided to end his own life by drinking poison, according to reports.

Forty-two-year-old Chezhira Mukobvu, who had been married to Rosemary Nyamukachi for 17 years, took Zvenyika to court earlier this year because he believed that his wife had been impregnated while working for the allegedly adulterous pastor.  The 35-year-old woman had reportedly been employed as a housemaid in the home of Zvenyika for about 5 years, during which time she had allegedly been forced to terminate 3 pregnancies fathered by the reverend before finally giving birth to a son.

EXCERPTS OF TOM IKIMI STATEMENT ON TINUBU AND APC

 

1. Following my widely publicized statement made in the aftermath of the 13th June 2014 All Progressives Congress APC National Convention I took time off to reflect on the state of the party, the emerging re-configuration of the general political Structure in the country, and the visionary effects on the state of our Nation.

2. I have spent almost 13 of the past 15 years faithfully dug in, in the trenches of the evolving democratic dispensations in our country, steadfastly pursuing my conviction that for true democracy to take firm root in Nigeria we should fall in line with the model practiced in successful democracies in the world, of a party in office and a scrutinizing alternative party holding the Government to account. We all have watched with admiration how in those other countries through a process of hitch-free General Elections, the baton of leadership changes hands from time to time from one Party to the other to provide alternative policies for their people. Therefore I have never considered my location outside the ruling party, as being in an

“opposition”, rather as supporting an alternative platform. All that was necessary for me was the association with individuals committed to build and uphold that platform. In this regard, my experiences during the era of the NRC and SDP in 1990 -1993 are invaluable reference data bank in my quest to work to reincarnate the reality of two dominant political platforms in our country.

Why are so many Britons fighting for ISIS?

 It is not just American citizens fighting along the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, the extremist group known as ISIS.

British citizens are doing the same. One is suspected in the murder of an American journalist.

CBS News looked at how Britain became a center for terrorist recruitment.

At home in Britain, he was Nasser Muthanna, a gifted 20-year-old who once dreamed of becoming a doctor. But in Syria, he is now Abu Muthanna al-Yemeni - one of hundreds of young men who have left the U.K. to join the brutal terrorist group ISIS.

The execution of American journalist James Foley, apparently at the hands of a British citizen, has left Britain struggling to understand how one of its own could be responsible for such an atrocity.

Shiraz Maher is an analyst at the International Center for the Study of Radicalization.

Ebola: Residents cry out as mystery monkey terrorises them

With the advent of Ebola,residents of the Federal Housing Estate, Oke-Ila, Ado-Ekiti, are scared stiff over the sudden appearance of a mysterious monkey in the area.

The monkey, described by residents as having a light brown skin, was said to have escaped from the home of its master, also a resident in the area, two weeks ago and began terrorising everyone in the area.

With panic written on their faces, the residents said the animal was jumping fences, attacking women and children and seizing fruits from hawkers in the area.
Abiodun Ajayi, a resident, told Daily Sun:

“It was about two weeks ago that a woman raised the alarm that she saw a monkey, coming out of a nearby bush around her house in the estate and because she isn’t a young woman, we believed her. Since then, we have been looking for the monkey.Last Sunday, I invited officials of the Civil Defence Corps when I saw the monkey on a tree. But before it could be shot, it dived into a compound and vanished. It comes and goes anytime and anyhow.”We wish government would come to our rescue. Last week, it attacked about two people around Covenant Academy and Housing Estate on Afao Road here.

Federal Government postpones resumption of primary & secondary schools to Oct. 15th

The Federal Government has postponed the resumption of primary and secondary schools across the country to October 22nd, it has been announced. Primary and Secondary schools were supposed to resume on September 22nd but about two weeks, FG postponed it indefinitely to prevent an outbreak of the Ebola Viral Disease. They announced today that schools can resume October 15th.

The Federal Government also stopped all summer schools.