BLESSING EGBE SUES SILVERBIRD CINEMAS FOR 500 MILLION NAIRA OVER FRAUD

In what is tipped to be the Scandal of the Century, Nollywood producer Blessing Egbe has dragged the management of  SilverBird Cinemas to court over what she percieves as sharp practises by the Group! 

A very pained Blessing said that since screening the movie, she is yet to recieve a single kobo from her investment even though the movie was screened to packed halls in Lagos, Abuja and Port Harcourt for over two months! Not only that, she says she was told the film had stopped screening in all cinemas of 13th of January only for her to discover it was not the case as the film continued to screen well into till February! And she has the evidence to prove it! See below!

Policeman arrested for spreading Snake hoax in Delta state

A police sergeant in Delta State has been arrested for alleged involvement in  a plot with some faceless persons to swindle the proprietor of  an hotel in Effurun, near Warri.

There was pandemonium in Warri, Thursday, following a false claim by the group report that a lady who lodged in the hotel on Valentine Day with a purported lover was turned into a python.

A version of the report said the proprietor of the hotel died after a policeman guarding the hotel shot dead the purported snake, which photograph was spread  round the twin-cites of Warri and Effurun on phone.

But for the intervention of the army and .police, the hotel would have been razed by angry residents, who thought the story was true and laid siege to the hotel on Thursday. The sergeant attached the Ekpan Police Station, Ekpan is reportedly assisting the police in their investigations to unmask the other members of the gang. The hotel proprietor,  who commented on the incident, on Friday, said, “When I heard of the news, I was shocked. I started receiving calls from different parts of Nigeria and abroad. I had to go to Delta Broadcasting Service, DBS, Warri, to tell  the people that nothing like that happened. It was the handiwork of competitors who see Hotel Excel as a threat.”

He said it was not true that a lady turned into a snake in his hotel, adding, “For the avoidance of doubt, the so-called strange creature was created in Indonesia in 2010 and could be found on the internet. This is what the primitive competitors used in blackmailing us by telling people that a lady turned into a snake in the hotel”


via Verdant Chronicles

NEWS: Suleja Christ Embassy Bomb Explosion...

SULEJA, Nigeria - A car exploded outside a church in the middle of a worship service Sunday near Nigeria's capital, wounding five people and sparking new fears of violence from a radical Islamist sect, authorities said.

Police and emergency officials could not say whether the blast came from a bomb inside the car. No one immediately claimed responsibility for the explosion that also destroyed five vehicles. However, the area has been targeted in the past by the sect known as Boko Haram, including the Christmas Day car bombing of a nearby church that killed at least 44 people.

The explosion happened in the city of Suleja in Niger state, which sits near the border of Nigeria's capital Abuja, officials said. The blast happened in an area near hotels in the city and just outside of a Christ Embassy church, said Yushau Shuaib, a spokesman for Nigeria's National Emergency Management Agency.

One person was seriously injured in the blast and taken to a local hospital, local police spokesman Richard Oguche said. Another four people suffered minor injuries, Shuaib said. Authorities began to put up roadblocks Sunday afternoon to keep onlookers away and traffic snarled around the city.

While police continued to investigate, suspicion for the blast immediately fell on Boko Haram, a group that has been waging increasingly bloody attacks against Nigeria's weak central government.

Members of the sect have been blamed for killing at least 289 people this year alone, according to an Associated Press count. The group's leader says its campaign of violence also is aimed at avenging Muslim deaths and pushing for strict Shariah law across multiethnic Nigeria, a nation of more than 160 million people.

The sect's attacks, including those specifically targeting Christians, have widened distrust between the two faiths in Africa's most populous nation. Nigeria is largely split between a Christian south and a Muslim north, and most of Boko Haram's previous attacks have taken place in the north.

Meanwhile, authorities blamed the group for killing two people Saturday in Nigeria's northeast. There, gunmen shot dead an Islamic cleric and a local politician in separate attacks, police said.

___

via AP

Associated Press writer Haruna Umar in Maiduguri, Nigeria contributed to this report.

[PHOTO] Suleja Christ Embassy Bomb Explosion.

www.twitpic.

WHITNEY HOUSTON's Daughter Bobbi Kristina Rushed to the Hospital

Whitney Houston's 18-year-old daughter, Bobbi Kristina Brown, was just rushed to Cedears-Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles ... TMZ has learned.

According to our sources ... Bobbi was taken out of the Beverly Hilton, where Whitney died yesterday, on a stretcher.

Law enforcement sources tell TMZ police and fire responded to a call for a medical emergency, but would not confirm who was transported.

As TMZ first reported, Bobbi Kristina got into an angry shouting match last night with police officers outside the hotel room where her mother was found dead

Bobbi Christina is Whitney's only child from husband Bobby Brown. Houston and Brown were married in 1992 and divorced in 2007.  

Story developing ...

BREAKING NEWS: WHITNEY HOUSTON DIES AT 48... SEE THE FULL STORY, HER LAST PERFORMANCE AND MUCH MORE

US singer, actress, producer and former model Whitney Houston is dead, her publicist Kristen Foster told Associated Press a few minutes ago.

The singer died early this morning Sunday, February 12, 2012.

A full statement has not been released as details on her death are still scanty.

The 48-year-old won two Emmy Awards, six Grammy Awards, 30 Billboard Music Awards and 22 American Music Awards in her 35-year music-acting career.

She was formerly married to US pop singer and former New Edition band mateBobby Brown with whom she had a child named Bobbi Kristina. Her marriage to Bobby lasted from 1992-2007 and can best be described as turbulent.

PHOTO: Kabiru Sokoto CAPTURED

Photo Credit, SaharaReporters

Escaped Boko Haram operative, Kabiru Umar aka "Kabiru Sokoto", has been re-arrested by Nigeria's secret police working with other security agencies in Mutum Biu, Taraba state.

 Kabiru was snagged from a hut where he was hiding with his brother. Kabiru Sokoto who allegedly masterminded the bombing of St Theresa Catholic Church, Madalla, Niger State on Christmas Day.

The church bombing killed 42 people.

via Sahara Reporters

Nigeria bound truck with arms and ammunition seized in Ghana

A truck loaded with ammunitions heading to Nigeria has been impounded by Ghanaian police in the capital Accra upon a tip off by a resident. The police said it is holding in custody five persons arrested on Tuesday for attempting to transport ammunitions from Ghana to Nigeria.

The occupants of the truck, three Ghanaians and two Nigerians who have been arrested and currently in detention are assisting the police with further investigations. 

The Greater Accra Regional Police Commander DCOP Rose Bio Atinga at a press conference after the interception said upon the tipoff, “we quickly dispatched our policemen. We went and found the vehicle at the location, it was empty. 

FULL TEXT OF THE PRESIDENT'S SPEECH ON THE DEREGULATION OF THE PETROLEUM SECTOR/PALLIATIVES/COST CUTTING MOVES OF HIS GOVERNMENT

NATIONAL BROADCAST BY PRESIDENT GOODLUCK EBELE JONATHAN, GCFR, ON THE DEREGULATION OF THE DOWNSTREAM PETROLEUM SECTOR SATURDAY,  JANUARY 7, 2012
___________________________________________
Dear Compatriots,
1.    A week ago, I had cause to address Nigerians on the security challenges we are facing in parts of the country, which necessitated the declaration of a state of emergency in 15 Local Government Areas in four states of the Federation. That course of action attracted widespread support and a demonstration of understanding. With that declaration, government had again signaled its intention to combat terrorism with renewed vigour and to assure every Nigerian of safety.

2.   The support that we have received in the fight against terrorism from concerned Nigerians at home and abroad has been remarkable. We believe that it is with such continued support that progress can be made on national issues. Let me express my heartfelt appreciation to everyone who has expressed a commitment to support us as we strive to improve on the country’s security situation, and build a stronger foundation for the future.  The recent mindless acts of violence in Gombe, Potiskum, Jimeta-Yola and Mubi are unfortunate. I urge all Nigerians to eschew bitterness and acrimony and live together in harmony and peace. Wherever there is any threat to public peace, our security agencies will enforce the law, without fear or favour.

3.   This evening, I address you, again, with much concern over an issue that borders on the national economy, the oil industry and national progress.  As part of our efforts to transform the economy and guarantee prosperity for all Nigerians, Government, a few days ago, announced further deregulation of the downstream petroleum sector. The immediate effect of this has been the removal of the subsidy on petrol.

Fuel subsidy: FG to procure 1,600 mass transit buses

…Orders MDAs to pay Jan. Salaries on 20th

BY DANIEL IDONOR

ABUJA – PRESIDENT Goodluck Jonathan and his cabinet members yesterday rose from an emergency session of the Federal Executive Council, FEC, saying that government would not reverse the increase in pump price of petrol from N65 to over N141 per litre.

The Federal Government however,  approved the  procurement of 1,600 mass transit buses on Monday, as part of the long term plans to cushion the harsh effects of the increase in pump price of petrol.

Addressing State House correspondents, at the end of the meeting, presided over by President  Jonathan, at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, Mr Olusegun Aganga, Minister of Trade and Investment who was joined by Labaran Maku, Minister of Information and Idris Umar, Minister of Transportation, said the 1,600 mass transit buses formed part of the N10 billion revolving loan set aside by the government to address problems of the transport sector in the country.

Ex-militants threaten Jonathan over fuel subsidy cabal

By Emma Amaize and Godwin Oghre
SAPELE- A group of ex-militants, under the aegis of Niger Delta Revolution Force, has urged President Goodluck Jonathan to, as a matter of urgency, arrest and try all those recently uncovered by the Senate to have illegitimately been benefiting from fuel subsidy or risk its wrath.

The leader of the group, Comrade Babatunde Omatseye told Vanguard in Sapele, Wednesday, that the group would regroup and launch attacked on oil facilities across the Niger Delta region,   as well as go after those who unjustly benefited from fuel subsidy, should government fail to direct the relevant law enforcement agencies to prosecute them.

Comrade Omatseye also advised the law enforcement agencies to shun the use of force, capable of maiming or killing unarmed members of the civil society who were protesting across the nation, the recent removal of fuel subsidy and its concomitant hike in transportation fares or risk reprisal attack from the group.