President Goodluck Jonathan's daughter's Church Wedding

 President Goodluck Jonathan's daughter's Church wedding.  See photos below

Congrats and may God bless their union.

Malaysian Co-pilot of missing plane tried to make call from plane

Co-pilot of missing plane tried to make call from his phone after plane vanished but 'was abruptly cut off'

The Malaysian plane has not been found 35 days after it went missing and according to new reports, the co-pilot of the missing flight tried to make a desperate call from his mobile phone after the aircraft went missing but was abruptly cut off...

UK Daily Mail reports

Investigators have learned the call was made from a mobile phone which belonged to Fariq Abdul Hamid (left) as the Boeing 777 flew low near the island of Penang, on the north of Malaysia's west coast. It was understood the aircraft, with 239 people on board, was flying low enough for the nearest telecommunications tower to pick up Fariq's signal. The call ended abruptly. However, contact was definitely established with a telecommunications sub-station in Penang state. Experts have said it is possible for a mobile phone to be connected to a telecommunications tower at an altitude of 7,000 feet - which is low for a large jet like the Boeing 777 unless it was flying at high speed to maintain height. Yesterday it looked like the black box may had been located deep in the Indian Ocean.

Nigerian President's Daughter weds, and the guests were given a customized phone

Nigerian President's Daughter weds, and the guests were given a customized phone

See pictures below.

Isn't it lovely to be the Nigerian President's Daughter? 

Am sure the president can afford one of this for all the citizens of Nigeria. :)

Samsung’s Galaxy S5 Smartphone Is Now on Sale

Samsung’s Galaxy S5 Smartphone Is Now on Sale in over 120 countries.

  The retail price on site like amazon runs from $700-$800.

Funke Akindele Nollywood Actress Finds Love Again!

 Funke Akindele Nollywood Actress Finds Love Again!

Nollywood actress Funke Akindele has found love again after parting ways with her Ex-husband, Kehinde Almaroof. According to a close source, Funke met this new man late last year through a mutual friend and everything seems to be working very well and fast for them. Though the man lives outside the country, he moved Funke to his duplex at Chevron Estate, Lekki to ensure everything will be fine with her.

We are hoping shes able to find true and lasting Love this time. good luck !!

Atiku Abubaka Son's wedding

Former Vice-President, Atiku Abubakar's son, Abba got married to his American love, Mariana on Saturday, April 5, 2014 in Dubai.


Below are some pictures :

Arrival of the Brides family in native attire 

Wishing them a happy married life 

Electrocution on the streets of Lagos

        Pregnant woman, her daughter, 3 others die of electrocution

It was a sad day yesterday April 10th for residents of Onabanjo street in Oworonsoki, Lagos, as some of their neighbors including a pregnant woman simply identified as Mrs Ameh and her daughter were electrocuted by a live wire.

According to a Punch report, a heavy downpour in the early hours of yesterday morning resulted in the collapse of an electric pole that still had electricity running in it. The pole and its cables fell in front of a building on the street resulting in massive fire which was sparked by stored fuel inside one of the cars parked in front of the building. As the fire began to spread, residents of the building started running out of their house to save themselves from the fire, only to step on electric cables still running with electricity. 5 people, including 3 children were electrocuted, while two cars were burnt.

Arik Flight Lagos to New York clip .

If you missed it here is a clip of the Arik Flight from Lagos to New York With no AC for almost an hour 

Choi!  I petty those little kids on this flight .

Laide Bakare' New husban Alaji Mutairu Oriowo and EFCC

"I'm a victim of blackmail'" Laide Bakare’s hubby drags EFCC to court

 Press statement from actress Laide Bakare's husband, Mutairu Oriowo 

Alhaji Mutairu Babatunde Oriowo, husband of Nollywood actress, Laide Bakare, has debunked the fraud and theft story against him occasioned through a declaration by the EFCC and published recently in a national daily. The businessman, who is the CEO of Primavera Construction & Engineering Ltd, added that, contrary to EFCC’s statement declaring him wanted, he is not on the run because he has not committed any offence to warrant running away from his fatherland.   

The businessman said that he was miffed by the EFCC declaration because he could not understand what the interest of EFCC was, as no court of law has indicted him for any offence and no warrant of arrest has ever been issued on him. 

Nollywood actress, Laide Bakare, has also said that she is standing by her husband on the matter, believing that the EFCC publication was meant to destroy his hard-earned reputation as a philanthropist who derives joy in helping people, adding that the story was also a calculated attempt to smear her own name as a celebrity.

According to Mr. Orilowo, the EFCC and MTN were only out to blackmail him because the court case he instituted against EFCC, seeking an injunction to restrain the agency from arresting him or declaring him wanted, will be determine on the 28th of April 2014. Yet he was declared wanted on no basis many weeks before the hearing date.

Explaining the issue further, Mr. Orilowo said that “there was this MTN Cooperative whose membership is of MTN workers. Their union came together with this idea of a project called ‘Y’ello Estate’ to be built at Okun Ajah. That is my home town and where I do most of my businesses. So, based on my popularity and as a philanthropist who commands respect in the area, my company, Primavera Engineering & Construction Limited, was approached by MTN to help buy five hectares of land, which we did. Later, they came to us again and said oh, there are more demands, get us five hectares more. We did. The subscribers now became much interested in the project because they were going to make it the best of such Estates in Lagos”.

“We had an agreement from the beginning because they trusted us to deliver. The agreement was for me to; one, buy the lands; two, to ensure that the lands acquired were validly documented, and three, to be the sole developer of the Estate”.

“But some powerful people at MTN then came in after the agreement with the aim to hijack it. They saw the project as a laudable one and they were shocked that I was the only man handling the project. They came with an excuse that many people were bidding for it and it should not be a one-man thing. But I have spent close to one billion naira on this project. The agreement was for me to collect from MTN 20 percent of the money for mobilization and then go ahead to complete it with my personal money. And I have spent a lot on it. You know how big a project like  an Estate can be; talk of roads, bridges and other amenities”.

“So, since the MTN had decided to bring in another developer and my company has committed so much into executing the project, I asked that the money I have spent so far be refunded. But when they were not forthcoming, I took the MTN Cooperative to court seeking to retrieve my money. We got judgment from Hon. Justice Olateru-Olagbegi. We then had negotiations with MTN based on the court judgment. Under the terms of settlement, MTN was to pay us substantial sums of money”.

“But MTN still refused to pay us, so we commenced third-party involvement proceedings against MTN which resulted in the issuance of an order freezing the bank accounts of MTN. While we await action on our money, MTN went to EFCC to lodge criminal complaints against us, alleging theft of money without disclosing the court proceedings on the issue. This was after the EFCC, on its own, had gone to court to institute criminal proceedings against us based on MTN’s complaints, which is still pending before the court”.

Davido one of The top 7 Nigerian music stars from wealthy homes.

Meet the top 7 Nigerian music stars from wealthy homes.

Talking of Nigerian top music stars that are from average homes who made something of themselves with their talent, hard work, started from the bottom with nothing and are today, rich and famous.

While some came from wealth, and didn't need to struggle as much but felt a need to make something of themselves instead of relying on daddy/mummy money. Meet seven of them below...

         

1. Davido: His father may be a billionaire businessman, his uncle may be a former governor of Osun state, but most of us didn't know the Adeleke family until Davido burst into the scene a few years ago. Davido's father is the chairman of Keplo Pacific Energy, a company into banking, steel, power and energy.

         

 2. Naeto C: Naeto C could have chosen to be an executive director in one of his multi-millionaire parents' companies, but instead he chose to pursue his own dreams. Naeto C is the son of former Aviation Minister and current Ambassador to Ireland, Mrs Kema Chikwe. His father is a wealthy businessman.
     

  3. Lynxxx: Some of you may not know this, but handsome rapper Lynxxx was born into money. His father, John Edozien, was the first deputy governor of the old Bendel State, now Delta State. He is also the chairman of Mercedes Benz Automobile Services Limited, among many other companies he owns. He's also a director in several companies including Linkage Assurance Plc and Diamond Bank Plc. Lynxxx is the only son. 
           

4. DJ Cuppy: 22 year old beautiful Florence Otedola popularly known as DJ Cuppy is the daughter of billionaire businessman and CEO of Forte Oil, Femi Otedola, once said to be worth about $1.2billion. The singer and DJ Cuppy plays big in the UK social scene

5.  Tillaman: Singer Tillaman's real name is Adeyemi Adetona. Sound familiar? Well, that's because his father is his HRH, Oba Lamidi Olayiwola Adeyemi III, the Alafin of Oyo State.

6. Ozzybosco: The young music sensation, who is only 7 or 8 years old, has collaborated with MI, Flavour and a few other A-listers and you wonder how he can afford to do that? Well, it's because his parents are wealthy. His mother, Elizabeth Nonye Mojekwe, is an international business woman with various companies.

7. Waliyah: She recently burst into the entertainment scene but her family name has been around for decades. She doesn't necessarily like to tell people this except you already know, but the singer is one of the daughters of late MKO Abiola.

Goodluck to all of them as they continue to entertain all.

Uche Jumbo Rodriguez expecting her first child with husband Kenny .

Congratulations to Nollywood  actress Uche Jumbo as she expect her first child with husband Kenny Rodriguez. They wedded in 2012.!

Arik flight Lagos to Newyork Banky W flight detail!

Banky W . Was on the Arik flight from lagos to Newyork on a business trip. Here is his experience without AC on board for over an hour !

 Find it below...

Recently, footage from a camera phone has surfaced online about the dire circumstances that passengers suffered prior to take-off, on board an Arik Air flight from Lagos to New York; I was one of the passengers. For anyone who has not seen the footage, it’s available on Youtube and various News Websites and Blogs. However, for purposes of this write-up, I will recount what happened.

The flight was scheduled to take off at about 1150pm on March 31^st, 2014. Boarding was completed on time, and all the passengers settled in their seats and prepared for the flight to begin. However, there seemed to be a delay in operations because although the ground crew had exited the aircraft and the cabin doors were shut, we weren’t moving. The pilot announced that there was a small delay in the ground crew operations on the plane, and that we should be patient as the flight would depart “in a few minutes”. 

The problem was, the air conditioning was not turned on. Midnight soon passed, and there was still no A/C, neither did it feel like we were going anywhere, anytime soon. Passengers were vigorously fanning themselves, asking for water and ice from the Crew, and doing whatever they could to stay cool and hydrated. The reality was that the heat in the plane was quite frankly unbearable.  It’s hot enough in Nigeria these days, and then you couple that with a cabin whose doors have been shut, and a bunch of people locked inside that enclosed space… suffice it to say it escalated from bad to worse very quickly.  The Captain made another announcement about how he’s “sorry for the delay, but it was due to the ground operations”, and that there was only one engine on and that was why the A/C could not be turned on yet. By now it was well past 12:30 and people were becoming extremely frustrated. Parents had begun taking the clothes off their children, children were crying, one lady looked like she would faint. Still, there was no further update on when we would take off and when the A/C would come on. 

Almost an hour into this debacle, many passengers became justifiably irate. We were all drenched in sweat, burning hot, and it was hard to breathe properly.  Now, let me interject here to say this… I believe that up till now, it was actually Arik’s policy to not turn on the A/C on their Aircrafts until take-off. I’m not sure why, but I’ve flown on many of their local routes within Nigeria and 100% of the time, this is always the case. The difference though is that usually, once boarding has been completed, it only takes a few minutes before take-off begins, and the A/C comes on pretty quickly, so while it’s unacceptable, it has been… tolerable. In this case however, we had been on board for well over an hour, and now passengers that had surged up front into my section actually said people were fainting, and more people were going to pass out. It was disastrous, to say the least. 

Just before the passengers surged into my section up front (I was in seat 1A), I actually saw the pilots pull the one foreign air hostess into the cockpit and lock the door behind them. I suspect that either the A/C may have been on in the Cockpit, or that he was concerned for his and her safety because the shouting from the back indicated that people were in a state of panic and riot. Either way, I thought his actions came off as incredibly ignorant and prejudice against the Nigerian Staff (who were doing their absolute best to try and calm people down), and against the very Nigerian passengers who he was employed to take care of. As the people surged up front and started banging on the cockpit door, the Captain made yet another announcement that people should be patient for a few more minutes, and of course it had been well over an hour so none of the irate passengers were having it. He also said that if people did not go back to their assigned seats, he would have to call the police. Of course this did nothing but provide further incentive for people to be angry, frustrated, irate… you name it. By this time, the entire section around my seat was filled with screaming passengers, banging on the cockpit door and yelling at the Nigerian Staff who were still pleading with us. I actually feared for the safety of the Air Hostesses, and for the equipment on the plane; the captain was not saying anything to calm people down, and would not dare show his face, and was not hearkening to the cries of people that he should open the cabin doors and let us out until they were actually ready to take off. 

I feared that more drastic measures were going to be taken by the irate passengers, which is why I stood up at that point to try and calm them down. My reasoning was that I’d been on enough Arik flights to know that this was their policy, so I didn’t feel like the plane was not fit to fly. I suggested that seeing as we’d already waited that long, we give them another 5-10 minutes, because if we disrupted the flight or caused damage, they would have to kick us off and begin the entire process from start. Some of the passengers calmed down after I spoke, while some were just intent on fighting or doing something drastic to express their displeasure… (one very short angry man actually tried to take out his anger on me, but I felt bad for him so I didn’t let that escalate). 

In any case, soon after that, the Captain announced he was beginning take-off procedures, and I felt the A/C come on. This further helped me make my case to the passengers, and most of the people started going back to their seats. What further shocked me at this point was that the Captain actually started taxiing the plane on the runway, while people were still making their way back to their seats. This seemed to be both dangerous AND illegal, in my opinion. To be fair though, it did motivate people to quickly rush back to their seats. Including our short and irate friend who at this time was screaming at the top of his lungs, and topless. After this though, the rest of the flight went on incident free, thank God. 

Many news agencies, upon seeing me in the footage online, have contacted me asking for details of what happened, and my opinion on the incident. My thoughts are as follows: it was an avoidable disaster, and one that could have ended up much worse for the staff and equipment of Arik Air. This policy of enclosing passengers within a cabin with no A/C is senseless; I suspect that it saves them some money because they don’t need to rent/buy ground power units to power the planes while they finish their operations, but it is unfair, cruel and inhumane to the clients of the airline to subject their comfort and even health to such conditions, all in the name of cutting costs. 

A few years ago, I took this flight route on Arik Air for the first time, primarily because I needed to be in NYC as quickly as possible on business, and they were the only carrier that went directly with no layovers. I was very impressed by pretty much every aspect of the flight. It was convenient and clean; the seats were big and comfortable; the staff was friendly and courteous; I was so impressed that for a short while, I stopped using my usual international Carriers. The one downside at the time, was that the food wasn’t quite the best, and there was no frequent flier mileage program. I remember filling out a suggestion form at the time, along with some other passengers, and we all commented that the food could be better. Shortly after that, I was beyond impressed to find that they had changed their menu and food supplier, and stepped up the quality to the point that it was as good, or better than most other carriers. It felt like they were really responding to the needs and expectations of their patrons, and I thought this was a great start for the Airline. 

I’m a proud Nigerian… and I’m a fan of all things good that are Nigerian. We have many issues as a country, but I’ve always been of the opinion that we have to fix ourselves. We have to police ourselves, and play our part in changing Nigeria and making Her better. As such, whenever possible, I try to support Nigerian owned businesses. My suits, for instance, are made by Mai Atafo; he has impressed me so much that I now refuse to buy suits from anywhere else in the world, because of the quality of his craftsmanship; and it is a source of pride for me when I’m asked by colleagues, clients and fans around the world where I got my suit from, and I’m able to tell them that it was made by a Nigerian Designer. 

Arik is currently our only airline that flies to international cities like London and New York; however instead of being a source of pride, they’ve allowed their standards to drop over time. There are 24 seats in my section, about 10 of them are not functional and have not been in months. The entertainment system is a joke; there are only a handful of tv shows and films available for viewing, and they are the same exact films/shows that were available years ago when they started flying to NYC. They literally have not changed the movies in YEARS. They just flat out refuse to upgrade what they have, and seem content to let it deteriorate. There is still no frequent flier program, even though for years they told passengers to hold on to their boarding passes, as it would soon commence. “Soon” has taken an eternity with no end in sight. Attention to detail is crucial, and very often, it is the difference between greatness and mediocrity; between growth and decline, success and failure.

I’d be remiss if I didn’t point out some of the positives that the airline still has. For one, I’ve found their Nigerian staff to be very polite, courteous and helpful. The food quality is still great - I have no complaints on anything I’ve tasted so far, other than the fish peppersoup – yuck! The duck however, was fantastic, as well as everything else I’ve eaten on board. Generally speaking, their cleanliness standards have not dropped either, thank God. And lastly, the direct flight to NYC remains as convenient as it gets for someone like me who sometimes needs to save time spent in European layovers. 

I’ve witnessed them make positive changes before due to the suggestion surveys passengers filled out; my hope, in writing this, is that they do the same again, fix the issues and give us a Nigerian Airline that will be a source of pride, not pain. 

-       B.W.

PS: Not everyone needs to be in NYC like myself; I suggest to the powers that be, to try and partner with an American carrier, so that once you touch down in NY, you can easily transition to a local flight to take you to your final destination.

PPS: I apologize for the extremely long article. I have even more to say but this will have to do.