Athletics: Three Nigerians in semi-final

Not even an Olympic race could change the smiling face of Regina George. She is always smiling. It is in her character to do so. And five meters to the end of her heat in the 400m event here today  in the London Olympics, the US-based Nigerian runner was smiling. It was her first time in the Olympics and being in front drew smile out of her face. She ran 51.24 seconds to win her heat that included Rushia’s Gushchina Yulia who ran 51.54 to place second and Wesh Marlene of Haiti was third with 51.98.

George qualified for the semi-final that will be run tomorrow. She kept on smiling while she spoke to the media at the Mixed Zone and when a journalist asked her if it was not strange smiling while running she said it was part of her to always do so. She was happy winning the race but admitted being nervous initially. “It feels good to win your heat in the Olympics,” she said, smiling.“It was competitive. I was nervous but I realised it was just another race and I kicked. When I found myself leading I was confused as I couldn’t imagine I would be doing so. But I kept on pumping till the end. I now feel I can make it to the final where it will be anybody’s race. I won’t feel that way again. Now I feel I can be in the top three.” Well spoken.

The 400m race has home girl Christie Ohuruogu who is the Olympic champion, Sanya Richards of USA and Montsho Amante of Botswana who are all hot this season. They are favoured for medals here.“Regina George has to run a faster race, she has to run her Personal Best to be in the final,” Pat Itanyi called on phone from USA to say while wishing the athletes well. “My money is on Sanya Richards and Montsho. I’m not sure Ohuruogu will place among the top three,” she said.

Omolara Omotosho placed fourth in her heat and was emotional when she stepped into the Mixed Zone,limping. Her eyes were heavy and she could not utter a word as she struggled to hold back tears. She felt that she was out in the first round. But when results were compiled, her 52.11 seconds qualified her for the semi-final.Regina George says that if she gets to the final anything can happen. That’s true and the same way Amaechi Morten felt after his 400m Hurdles race. He placed third with 49.34 seconds to qualify for the semi-final although he slowed down towards the finish line.

Amaechi has run sub 49 seconds this season. He hit a hurdle at the last curve and this affected his strides. But he said he would run better in the semi-final. “The way I ran wasn’t what I expected. When I hit that hurdle I lost momentum.   But I’m feeling good and will run a better race in the next round.”

Whatever happens, track and field has lifted Nigeria here. Three out of the four athletes who competed in the morning events today are in the semi-finals. The other athletes from other sports never got this far. Osasuwa Uhuoma who is the next athlete is competing in the Heptathlon event which is still on although she was sevent in the 100m Hurdles.

“I have been in pains since this week. I have pains in my groin and I’m not just feeling good,” she said at the Mixed Zone, actually looking downcast. Athletics Federation chairman Solomon Ogba had promised to personally reward athletes who get to the semi-final and final evets here. Three did so in the morning and Blessing Okagbare has a race later tonight.

* Blessing Okagbare also qualified for the semis in her

 

 http://www.steffgossip.com/2012/08/athletics-three-nigerians-in-semi-final.html

 

vanguard

SUNDAY NIGHT .......OGUI ROAD

 FIRST NEPA POLE....,

 SECOND NEPA POLE.......

 THIRD NEPA POLE,TRANSFORMER AND  GENERATOR..... ALL KNOCKED OUT

This guy  was either

• asleep, 
• drunk,
• had hearth attack 
• or was on facebook while driving on  more that 140km per hour as to  cause hes  havoc. 

The Most Beautiful Girl in Nigeria 2011

The Most Beautiful Girl in Nigeria 2011: 34 Beauties Vie for the Crown – Vote for Your MBGN 2011-BellaNaija Miss Photogenic

Posted on Wednesday, June 15th, 2011 at 4:38 PM By BellaNaija.com

The Most Beautiful Girl in Nigeria pageant has just kicked off the 2011 competition.
This year, there are 34 contestants representing states across the Federal Republic of Nigeria. One of these girls will follow in the footsteps of previous MBGN winners including Munachi Abii, Adaeze Igwe, Nike Oshinowo, Lynda Chuba-Ikpeazu, Regina Askia, Matilda Kerry and many other successful MBGN crown holders.

BN will be partnering with the MBGN organization this year and now you can vote for your MBGN 2011-BellaNaija Miss Photogenic.
You can now vote for your favourite contestant to win MBGN 2011. Send the contestant’s code (e.g. V40 ) to 33555 for MTN, Etisalat and Starcomms; 33550-GLO; and 33044-Airtel. Contestant codes are from V1 to V34.

Pls send in your SMS to vote and place your favourite contestant to the top 15, and a step closer to the crown. 40 percent of the votes for contestants of MBGN 2011 comes from SMS. Start texting for your favourite to win.

Event Details:
Date: Saturday 25 June 2011
Time: 7:30PM
Venue: Eko Hotel & Suites, Victoria Island, Lagos
Tickets: N5,000 (Regular), N30,000 (VIP), N50,000 (VVIP)
Tickets can be purchased at Eko Hotel and Suites, Occasions n Events – Silverbird Galleria, Just 4 U – E-centre
Here is the first set of pictures taken with no professional help, preceeding the transformation the contestants would have gone through during the process of participating in the competition:
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V1 Gabriella Ndu (Abia State)

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V2 Tessy Maduko (Abuja)

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V3 Nwando Ebeledike (Adamawa State)

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V4 Kome Osalov (Akwa-Ibom State)

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V5 Ify Jewana (Anambra State)

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V6 Sophie Gemal (Bayelsa State)

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V7 Chantelle Unachukwu (Bauchi State)

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V8 Josephine Igochie (Benue State)

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V9 Gbemisola Shotade (Borno State)

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V10 Agatha Eriom (Cross River State)

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V11 Chidebe Joyce Ngozi (Delta State)

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V12 Delphine Okabah (Ebonyi State)

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V13 Onabu Obehioye Liliane (Edo State)

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V14 Awefada Ovoke (Ekiti State)

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V15 Obioma Isiwu (Enugu State)

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V16 Jennifer Igwegbe (Gombe State)

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V17 Urenna Oyeneke (Imo State)

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V18 Okafor Oluchi (Kogi State)

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V19 Ngwu Oganna Linda (Kwara State)

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V20 Grace Ndam (Lagos State)

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V21 Menkiti Sylvia (Nasarawa State)

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V22 Amanda Simon (Niger State)

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V23 Ige Temifope (Ogun State)

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V24 Tobi Banjoko (Ondo State)

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V25 Metu Kelechi (Osun State)

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V26 Mitchelle Ijeh (Oyo State)

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V27 Onaja Loveth (Plateau State)

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V28 Florentina Nneka Agu (Rivers State)

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V29 Sylvia Nduka (Taraba State)

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V30 Lotachukwu Ugwu (Yobe State)

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V31 Enoka Gloria (Jigawa State)

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V32 Olamide Aroguma (Kaduna State)

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V33 Deborah Enebeli (Kano State)

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V34 Kenechukwu Offiah (Katsina State)

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Codes, States, and Names of Contestants
V1 ABIA Gabriella Ndu
V2 ABUJA Tessy Maduko
V3 ADAMAWA Nwando Ebeledike
V4 AKWA-IBOM Kome Osalor
V5 ANAMBRA Ify Jewana
V6 BAYELSA Sophie Gemal
V7 BAUCHI Chantelle Unachukwu
V8 BENUE Josephine Igochie
V9 BORNO Gbemisola Shotade
V10 CROSS RIVER Agatha Eriom
V11 DELTA Chidebe Joyce
V12 EBONYI Delphine Okabah
V13 EDO Onabu Obehioye Liliane
V14 EKITI Awefada Ovoke
V15 ENUGU Obioma Isiwu
V16 GOMBE Jennifer Igwegbe
V17 IMO Urenna Oyeneke
V18 KOGI Okafor Oluchi
V19 KWARA Ngwu Oganna Linda
V20 LAGOS Grace Ndam
V21 NASARAWA Menkiti Sylvia
V22 NIGER Amanda Simon
V23 OGUN Ige Temifope
V24 ONDO Tobi Banjoko
V25 OSUN Metu Kelechi
V26 OYO Mitchelle Ijeh
V27 PLATEAU Onaja Loveth
V28 RIVERS Florentina Nneka Agu
V29 TARABA Sylvia Nduka
V30 YOBE Lotachukm Ugwu
V31 JIGAWA Enoka Gloria
V32 KADUNA Olamide Aroguma
V33 KANO Deborah Enebeli
V34 KATSINA Kenechukwu Offiah

STOP THE MASSACRE OF NIGERIAN CHRISTIANS

Introvigne: fermare subito il massacro dei cristiani nigeriani. L’Italia sta facendo bene, ma da sola non basta

By Studio Bilbo on 9 luglio 2012 

 

«Una strage annunciata»: così il sociologo Massimo Introvigne, coordinatore dell’Osservatorio della Libertà Religiosa istituito il mese scorso dal ministero italiano degli Esteri, definisce il massacro avvenuto nel week-end nello Stato nigeriano del Plateau, allorché i guerriglieri islamisti di Boko Haram hanno attaccato nove villaggi cristiani mietendo almeno novanta morti.

«Dall’inizio dell’anno ogni domenica in Nigeria si ripete un rito osceno e macabro in cui i cristiani che vanno in chiesa sono massacrati dal movimento ultra-fondamentalista islamico Boko Haram e dai suoi complici. I morti nel 2012 sono più di seicento, quelli uccisi negli ultimi dodici anni oltre diecimila», spiega lo studioso. Ma «il tempo delle belle parole è scaduto. Anzi, continuando a non reagire rischiamo tutti di abituarci all’orrore e di vedere queste notizie scivolare nelle pagine interne dei giornali».

Ecco allora l’idea, decisiva. Occorre «anzitutto – dice il coordinatore dell’Osservatorio – aiutare le forze di sicurezza nigeriane, che non ce la fanno da sole. La missione italiana della settimana scorsa in Nigeria, guidata dall’inviata speciale per le emergenze umanitarie del Ministero degli Esteri Margherita Boniver, ha indicato la via da percorrere con la proposta di collaborazione bilaterale in materia di sicurezza, che il nostro Osservatorio s’incaricherà di far conoscere e approfondire. Ma l’Italia da sola non basta, deve muoversi l’Europa».

Quindi bisogna «rendersi conto che l’emergenza non è nigeriana ma continentale. L’Unione Africana e le altre organizzazioni internazionali devono prendere atto che la strage di cristiani in Africa è una delle grandi emergenze umanitarie del secolo, e lavorare a una strategia regionale che isoli e colpisca le centrali ideologiche e militari del terrorismo anti-cristiano. A partire dalle regioni del Nord del Mali, di fatto controllate da al-Qa’ida, e da una buona metà della Somalia, dove lo Stato non esiste. Il Mali e la Somalia non sono problemi locali, perché da queste “zone franche” del terrore partono armi e odio che colpiscono i cristiani in tutto il continente».

C’è qualcuno in ascolto?

 http://www.ilquintuplo.it/introvigne-fermare-subito-il-massacro-dei-cristiani-nigeriani-litalia-sta-facendo-bene-ma-da-sola-non-basta/

5-Day Forecast Lagos, Nigeria,,,,

Lagos, Nigeria

Current Conditions

Friday, Jul. 6, 2012 2:00

See the forecast in Fahrenheit

25°C

Scattered Thunderstorms

Scattered thunderstorms. High 27C. Winds SSW at 10 to 15 kmh. Chance of rain 60%.

• HIGH 27°C
• LOW 22°C
• WIND 8 kmh
• HUMIDITY 89%
• VISIBILITY 6 mi

5-Day Forecast Lagos, Nigeria

Friday, Jul. 6 – Tuesday, Jul. 10

See the forecast in Celsius

• Friday

  Scattered Thunderstorms

  27°C

  22°C

• Saturday

  Scattered Thunderstorms

  27°C

  22°C

• Sunday

  Scattered Thunderstorms

  26°C

  22°C

• Monday

  Scattered Thunderstorms

  27°C

  22°C

• Tuesday

  Scattered Thunderstorms

  27°C

  22°C

ENUGU STATE (WAWA) DAY ROME ITALY 2012

Sex Exports from Benin to Mali

In what appears like a recurrent cycle of shame, the men of Nigeria Immigration Services have foiled an attempt to export five Edo girls into slavery. The five teenagers and one boy were intercepted with a suspected human trafficker, simply identified as Stella Daniel, from Cross River State at Seme border as they were trying to enter neighbouring Republic of Benin enroute war-torn Republic of Mali.

The girls, Blessing, Abigael , Ella Ojo, Faith and Isabella and Lucky, the only boy, (other names withheld) had quietly absconded with Daniel to chase the proverbial Golden Fleece in Mali. They all claimed ignorance of the civil war in the country of their destination. For them, the attraction to work in a bar abroad was too tempting to ignore.

The promise of N30,000CFA, equivalent of N10,000 monthly, was more than enough consideration to ‘escape’ from the allure of love and care of their parents. They confessed to have sworn to on oath with their madam not to run away until they have fully refunded her through services to customers. However, the alertness of the eagle eyes men of Nigeria Immigration Service at the border post saved them from what appears like exportation into sex slavery in foreign land.

According to the Comproller of Immigration Services (CIS) at the border, Julius Ogbu, who explained the circumstances of the arrest of the girls and their madam to Crimewatch, the appearance of a woman and young girls of college age almost in the same age bracket aroused the suspicion of the officers. The suspicion of the officers was confirmed, when, upon interrogation, none of them had any traveling document while their destination also raised more curiosity.

“They said that were going to work in a restaurant for the trafficker. She said she recruited them from Nigeria. Incidentally, neither the trafficker nor any of the girls had traveling documents.“More curious was the fact that none of their parents was aware they were traveling outside the country. That was why we had to detain them and conducted further interrogation. By the time we put our facts together, we came to a conclusion that it was actually a case of human trafficking. Number one, no traveling document; number two, their parents and relatives were not aware that they were leaving the shore of this country.

“And their age is between 18 and 20. Only one of them is 22. That is the age they gave us in our records. They all claimed they were from Edo State. “By virtue of our training: you are trained to be a border patrol officer and patrol prepares you for jobs in mega routes while control officers are those you see in the main borders. You’re also trained to be very vigilant so that any movement that is suspicious, you apprehend, and interrogate and then you refer.

“At the end of the day, you come into a conclusion. So, on this night when they came out of the bus, it aroused the suspicion of our men. The driver and the bus are still being detained because we have not been able to ascertain if they are culpable or not. We want to know if they boarded the vehicle as just routing passengers or not. The National Agency for the Prohibition of Traffic in Persons (NAPTIP), the agency responsible for cases of human trafficking will be able to give their verdict along that line after we have handed them over to them.

“We always warn the transporters to be careful of strange movements. If you have five young girls, traveling with a woman and you could easily infer they are not her children, then you should be suspicious. Ours is to apprehend and hand the suspects to NAPTIP. By the time they conclude their investigation they will assist those girls to re-unite with their families while the trafficker will face prosecution,” he said.

While our reporter was still at the border with the officers, mother of one of the girls, Mrs Oforue Imagbosoria, came in tears all the way Edo from Benin State, in search of her daughter, who she claimed had disappeared since penultimate Sunday. She said her daughter called her on GSM and apologised for her conduct.
Her words: “My daughter just called me yesterday and informed me that she had been arrested. She just called me and said, ‘Mummy, I beg you to forgive me; they don catch me for road.’ I asked her, where you dey go my pikin? She said she dey Lagos. She said it was a woman from Cross River State that carried her to swear juju because she wanted to carry her travel abroad.

She explained that her daughter disclosed that she and her friends were at Seme border. “So, that was how I came from Benin,” she stressed. According to her, Abigael’s action was very strange because she had been well catered for by her parents.

“We made sure she does not lack anything. She said it was her friends that introduced her to the woman,” she said.
The alleged trafficker in a chat with our reporter, however, insisted that the decision to take the girls to the foreign country was motivated by compassion and pity. “Although I needed one girl and one boy to work in my restaurant and bar in Mali, I decided to take others along out of pity and from what they told me,” she said.
Madam Daniel, who claimed to have spent three and half years in Mali where she has a boyfriend, who she has a daughter for, said she planned to accommodate the girls in her apartment and that she promised to pay them N10,000 each every months as remuneration.

She confessed that she did not obtain any document to facilitate their traveling since the route is familiar to her. “I myself, I don’t have any paper because I do not know that I need to collect papers to travel,” she said.
She spoke on how she recruited the girls: “When I came for Easter, I told them where I was staying in Benin that I needed one boy and one girl to take along with me when I’m returning to Mali. My plan was that the boy would be operating the bar while the girl would take care of the restaurant.

So, they brought a girl and a boy to me.
“However, others started coming and said they must follow me. One of them said she was an orphan, two others joined us and started crying that they had nobody to support them. I told them, I didn’t have enough money but they were crying. So, I decided to help them. This one (pointing to one of the girls) came on Sunday morning, the day we wanted to leave Benin. She was crying.

She said she must follow us. I told her that I didn’t have enough money to take us to Mali but if we get to Cotonou, I could make phone call so that they would send money to us. I asked her to go and bring her parents because I could not take anybody away without the consent of her parents, who must also stand as surety. The one that said she didn’t have parents, I asked her to bring her sisters or any close relation.

“Now, in the morning we found this one (Abigael) waiting outside, crying that she must follow us. When I asked her to go and bring her parents, she said no. That was how they started crying. They said that life is tough for them because they don’t have any care from their parents.

It was the way they explained their plight to me that made me to accept them.”

http://infomister.com/2012/05/sex-exports-from-benin-to-mali/

MUSLIMS IN ROME PROTEST AGAINST THE PERSECUTION OF CHRISTIANS IN NIGERIA

Nigeria: musulmani domani a Roma fiaccolata contro persecuzioni cristiani

ultimo aggiornamento: 08 maggio, ore 14:54


Roma, 8 mag. - (Adnkronos/Aki) - I giovani musulmani della Comunita' Religiosa islamica italiana (Coreis) parteciperanno domani alla fiaccolata contro le persecuzioni nei confronti dei cristiani in Nigeria che si terra' a Roma. Lo ha annunciato in una nota l'imam Yahya Pallavicini, vice presidente della Coreis. "Ringrazio il presidente della Comunita' Ebraica di Roma, Riccardo Pacifici, per l'invito alla fiaccolata di solidarieta' promossa dalla Comunita' di Sant'Egidio e dall' Ucei (Unione delle Comunita' Ebraiche d'Italia) per domani a Roma", ha affermato Pallavicini.


http://www.adnkronos.com/IGN/News/Cronaca/Nigeria-musulmani-domani-a-Roma-fiaccolata-contro-persecuzioni-cristiani_313281931232.html