YAYA TOURE IS THE AFRICAN FOOTBALLER OF THE YEAR FOR THE THIRD TIME IN A ROW

Ivory Coast and Manchester City midfielder Yaya Toure has been named the Confederation of African Football (Caf) Footballer of the Year for the third time in a row.

He beat fellow Ivorian Didier Drogba, of Galatasaray, and Nigeria and Chelsea midfielder John Obi Mikel.

Toure, 30, emulates Abedi Pele and Samuel Eto'o with a hat-trick of wins. Ghanaian Abedi Pele won three in a row between 1991-93 while Cameroonian Eto'o took the award from 2003-05.

Toure may not have won a major trophy for club and country last year but his class has shone through at both domestic level and for the Elephants of Ivory Coast.

Toure's form also led to him being the only African to be included on the 23-man shortlist for Fifa's World Player of the Year. His closest rival for the Caf award was Mikel, 26, who helped Nigeria win the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations in South Africa and also featured in Chelsea's Europa League win.

Former Arsenal striker Nwankwo Kanu was the last Nigerian star to win the prestigious award in 1999.

SAMSUNG GALAXY S5 TO FEATURE "EYE SCANNING SECURITY"

Samsung's Galaxy S5, the next generation of its flagship smartphone, will be released by April and may include innovative eye-scanning technology.

An executive for the Korean tech giant confirmed to Bloomberg that the phone will hit stores this year on roughly the same time table as previous iterations of the device, which has emerged as the chief rival to Apple's iPhone.

The Galaxy S4 was announced last March and released in April.

Lee Young Hee, executive vice president for Samsung's mobile business, also told the news service that a new version of the company's Galaxy Gear smartwatch will be released at the same time as the new phone.

We've been announcing our first flagship model in the first half of each year, around March and April, and we are still targeting for release around that time," Lee said. "When we release our S5 device, you can also expect a Gear successor with more advanced functions, and the bulky design will also be improved."

EMBATTLED MINISTER OF AVIATION "STELLA ODUAH" IN FRESH DOCTORATE DEGREE SCANDAL

Investigative Journalism Media outfit PREMIUM TIMES may have burstes yet another LIE  by the Minister of Aviation, Stella Oduah.

Twenty-four hours after her claim to have acquired a Masters degree from the  St. Paul’s College in the United States was punctured, PREMIUM TIMES has uncovered another false claim by our embattled Minister of Aviation, Stella Oduah.

This time, the minister lied on oath to the Nigerian Senate, claiming another American ‘university’, Pacific Christian University awarded her an honorary doctorate degree in 1998. Mrs. Oduah made the claim in a 7-page resume she distributed to Nigeria’s 109 senators during her confirmation hearing on July 2, 2011.

On page four of the document, the minister claimed the university, which she said was based in Glendale, awarded her an honorary doctorate in Business Administration.

LAGOS HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY OFFERS N1.25MILLION REWARD FOR INFORMATION ABOUT PERPETRATORS OF "TORTURE OF PEPPER SELLERS"

Lagos State House Assembly lawmakers frustrated over the lack of information about the perpetrators of an alleged sodomy of two Ejigbo women, is today offering a reward of N1.25M for any information.

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The Chairman of the committee, Mr. Ajibayo Adeyeye announced the reward of Naira 1M for information leading to an arrest, and said he would personally add N250,000.

The reward is offered following a public hearing today at the Lagos State House Assembly where testimony was heard from the Chairman of the Ejigbo Local Government, Kehinde Bamigbetan, the Police Department, civil society leaders, community leaders and market women.  

FIFTEEN PERISH & PROPERTY WORTH MILLIONS OF NAIRA DESTROYED AS PETROL LADEN TRUCK EXPLODES IN APAPA-LAGOS

Update on the petrol tanker explosion reported yesterday reveals that Fifteen people were actually roasted to death on Tuesday night, after a petrol-laden tanker somersaulted at Cement bus stop, near Oshodi-Apapa expressway, Lagos.

About 54 lock-up stalls situated in four buildings, including a Sterling bank branch, and property worth millions of naira, were also razed by the inferno which raged for about three hours before it was put off by fire fighters.

                            

BASKET MOUTH, AFRICAN WOMEN AND RAPE JOKE

Bright Okpocha, a Nigerian comedian also known as Basketmouth is known for his rib cracking jokes. But his latest rape punch line has provoked an outrage. It was not funny at all. It was the type of joke Nigerians like to refer to as ‘expensive’. Basketmouth had in a tweet which was also posted on his Facebook page compared dating white girls to dating African women. In the tweet, he recommended rape for members of the latter group who failed to give in to a man’s lustful advances after nine dates, which include dinners and shopping sprees. The joke was inconceivable. However, for those familiar with Nigerian comedy scene, it was nothing new. For long, Basketmouth, like many other Nigerian comedians, had always delighted in entertaining their audience with explicit and insensitive jokes that stereotype women and people with physical disability.

Such a joke as told by Basketmouth is the staple of many comic shows.  No matter at whose expense the jokes were cracked. The audience, which also include women, do not seem to mind as they often pay appreciable sum to be part of sell-out comedy shows. In less than a decade, the Nigerian comedy scene has witnessed a boon. Comedians are raking in ‘monster’ appearance and endorsement fees from private and corporate clients. Never in the history of the entertainment industry had comedy been this lucrative. In the years when old school comedians like Gringory, Zebrudaya, Samanja, Baba Sala, strut the entertainment scene. Such jokes were rare. Now it seems the more explicit the joke, the bigger the audience with comedians smiling to the bank. In recent years since Ali Baba blazed the trail, the game has changed tremendously. Comedians like Basketmouth have changed the perception of comedians as unemployed ‘alawadas’. (Jesters)

MORE TROUBLE FOR PDP AS 27 OUT OF 30 LAWMAKERS IN SOKOTO DEFECTS TO APC

The PDP were punched hard yet again when the majority of the members of the Sokoto State House of Assembly defected to the All Progressives Congress, APC. Twenty seven out of the 30 members of the Assembly took the decision to move the APC on Wednesday, lawmakers said.

The Chairman of the House Committee on Information, Malami Basakkwace, informed that the that the members decided to move to the APC to follow the state governor, Aliyu Wamakko, who was one of the five governors that defected to the APC.

“We are moving in line the decision of his Excellency Governor Aliyu Wamakko to also move over to the APC,” he said. The defectors include the speaker of the assembly and other principal officials.

GOVERNOR KWANKWASO'S FATHER ESCAPES DEATH IN KANO

KANO State Governor’s father, Alhaji Musa Saleh Kwankwaso, on Tuesday night escaped death when unidentified gunmen attacked and opened fire on worshippers  at a mosque  in  Kwankwaso town, in Madobi Local Government Council of the state.

The governor’s father was said to be among the congregation at the time the gunmen struck.

It was gathered that it was a long gun battle between the gunmen and the police attached to the mosque. However, at the end of it all, three persons were killed, while 12 others sustained varying degrees of injuries. They were said to be receiving treatment at a nearby hospital.

PASTOR FIREMAN HAS BEEN ARRESTED OVER ALLEGED MURDER OF 12-YEAR OLD VIRGIN GIRL FOR RITUAL PURPOSES

Pastor Ofuche Ukoha popularly called "Sign Fireman, a controversial Lagos miracle Pentecostal priest  has been implicated in a ritual murder scandal involving a boy in his church who strangled 12 year old teenage girl while trying to obtain feces from her for ritual purposes.

The disclosure of Pastor Fireman's involvement in the scandal was made by an eighteen year old boy paraded by the police in Lagos. The teenage suspect stated during the parade that he was sent on the ritual mission by Pastor  Fireman.

He said he had always dreamt of becoming rich and had approached the pastor personally, after years of attending the church without his own financial miracle happening, Mr. Fireman reportedly told him the way to get his Sign for finance was to get the feces of a virgin girl. The suspect said Pastor Fireman promised him a reward of N100,000 for the assignment.

TANKER EXPLOSION AT APAPA AREA OF LAGOS KILLS FIVE

Tragedy occured at Apapa area of Lagos earlier today as five people were killed as a result of a fuel tanker that exploded.

The driver of the tanker carrying fuel lost control after the brakes failed, resulting in it somersaulting, and resulting in an explosion. The accident, which occurred along the Berger bus stop, Mile 2 area, also resulted in the injuries of a number of residents in the area.

The General Manager of the Lagos Emergency Management Agency, Mr. Olufemi Osanyintolu, confirmed the incident.

TEN ARTISTES WHOSE ALBUMS SHOULD DROP IN 2014

It is 2014 already and the Nigerian entertainment industry, particularly the music sector, is gearing up for a busy year. With some artistes failing to release their anticipated album in the previous year -2013, we expect loads of albums in 2014. Take a look at singers whose albums will most probably be released this year.

WizKid

Star Boy and EME artiste, Ayo ‘Wizkid’ Balogun, whose second studio album was postponed thrice in 2013, is expected to release the anticipated musical work this year. Expected to be loaded with international and local collaborations, and top notch productions from top producers, Wizkid’s yet-to-be titled second album might go the way of the first album; an all hit musical work.

Wande Coal

Remember he trended worldwide on social network, Twitter, when he released three singles back in 2011. Wande who ended the year 2013 with a Glo endorsement deal after a split with his former label boss, Don Jazzy, is expected to release his second long awaited album under his Black Diamond imprint.

STELLA ODUAH ATTEMPTS TO COVER UP CERTIFICATE FORGERY SCANDAL

Embattled Minister of Aviation, Stella Oduah, and her associates have spent the last several hours scrambling to clean up the minister’s biographies on the Internet, following allegations that she lied about her academic qualifications.

SaharaReporters, had Monday quoted authorities at St. Paul’s College, where Mrs. Oduah claimed she studied for Bachelor and Masters degrees, as saying they did not award her an MBA at anytime as the university does not  even have a graduate school or graduate programme.

The minister is yet to respond to the allegations. Efforts to get her to comment for this story were unsuccessful. Joe Obi, her special assistant on media, did not answer or return calls.

TOP ENTERTAINMENT STORIES OF 2013

The year in entertainment started on a low note with the death of Goldie Harvey. However, it was also a triumphant year for afro-pop music with the likes of Kcee, Iyanya and Flavour topping the charts. Wazobia rappers also made themselves felt: Olamide, Phyno and belatedly, Reminisce.

It was also the year celebrities uncensored themselves on Twitter and Instagram: Tonto Dikeh and her marijuana advocacy, Maheeda and her nudie. We were also blessed/cursed with another season of the show we all love to hate, Big Brother Africa. On the foreign scene, we were entertained by the epic rants of rapper, Kanye West, and former Hannah Montana star, Miley Cyrus, trying to make twerking “happen” (twerking, a series of booty shaking dance moves that black Africans have been doing since God created hips.).

However, despite the midyear high, the year is ending on another low note for music artistes as BON/IBAN throw down the gauntlet, banning most of the biggest stars (Tuface, Dbanj, MI) from the airwaves.

Here is a rundown of the stories that really made news:

JEALOUS FRIEND DISGUISED IN ISLAMIC DRESS BEFORE CARRYING OUT ACID ATTACK

This is a continuation of the report on the horrific acid attack on a Nigerian, Miss Naomi Oni in Britain. A university  student disguised in a Muslim veil stalked her before throwing acid in her face, a court heard yesterday.

Mary Konye, 21, was captured on CCTV using the niqab to hide her identity as she followed her victim home, before allegedly attacking her because she was jealous of her good looks, the jury heard.

Her victim Naomi Oni, also 21, gave evidence about her ordeal yesterday, describing her shock when she was attacked late at night on a London street.

FORMER MISS VENEZUELA AND EX-HUSBAND MURDERED IN FRONT OF THEIR FIVE YEAR OLD DAUGHTER

A British man and his beauty queen ex-wife have been murdered in front of their five-year-old daughter in a horrific robbery in Venezuela.

Thomas Berry, 39, from London and Miss Venezuela 2004, Monica Spear Mootz, 29, were gunned down by thieves after their car broke down on the Puerto-Cabello to Valencia highway at about 10pm on Monday. Police made five arrests in connection with the case earlier today, including two who were said to be under 18.

LATE SESAN OGUNRO SET TO BE BURIED IN LAGOS THIS FRIDAY

Mr. Sesan Ogunro Snr. father of OAP "Fade Ogunro" & Award winning video director "Sesan Ogunro", who was murdered during a robbery incident in Lagos on December 22, 2013 will be buried this weekend,

Family picture

The burial ceremony will take place  at the Vaults and Gardens, Ikoyi, Lagos on Friday, January 10, 2013.

Gov Fashola visited the family

The late media guru and successful businessman is survived by his wife and four children.

May his soul rest in peace.

NIGERIAN GIRL WAS BATHED WITH ACID BY A JEALOUS FRIEND WHOM SHE ONCE CALLED "UGLY" DURING A FIGHT

A university student threw acid in the face of a friend in a copycat version of the attack on model Katie Piper because she was jealous of her good looks, a court heard yesterday.

Mary Konye, 21, allegedly disguised herself in a Muslim veil and followed Naomi Oni home before attacking the Victoria’s Secret lingerie shop assistant, who is said to have once called her ugly.Miss Oni, also 21, screamed and could smell her skin and hair burning, the jury heard. She ran home where her family tried frantically to wash off the acid.

NAOMI BEFORE THE ATTACK

But she lost the skin from her face, and has permanent scarring over her body, the court was told. Her clothes tested positive for sulphuric acid.  Konye – who had allegedly told a friend she wanted to throw acid at Miss Oni – denies the attack and being jealous.

PASTOR BAGS 10 YEARS IMPRISONMENT FOR RAPING SIX YEAR OLD GIRL IN ABUJA

A man, who claimed to be a pastor in Galadimawa Village in Abuja, has been sentenced to 10 years in prison by a High Court for the rape of a six-year-old girl. The  self-acclaimed pastor, Micheal Dimowo, was arraigned by the police  on December 3, 2012 on rape charges,  which contravenes the provisions of Section 283 of the Penal code.

Delivering judgment on Monday, Justice Maudashiru Oniyangi said;  “Based on the forgoing I find the accused guilty of the offence of rape which contravenes the provisions of Section 283 of the Penal Code.

STELLA ODUAH EMBROILED IN CERTIFICATE SCAM

Stella Oduah, Nigeria’s Minister of Aviation is a cat with nine lives. She is embroiled in a scandal of towering proportions in the ministry and faces new integrity questions as her Masters’ degree has been challenged by the United States school which supposedly awarded it in a report by Sahara Reporters.

Her resume, which she presented to the Senate as a ministerial nominee in 2011, indicated she obtained a Master's degree in Business Administration (MBA) from St. Paul’s College Lawrenceville, Virginia, United States. But SaharaReporters has learned from the President of the college that it has never in its 125-year history had a graduate school or graduate program. The Provost Vice President of Academic Affairs, and the Vice President of Institutional Development said in response to our inquiries, “We don’t offer any graduate programs here.”

Similarly, the school’s website states: “Saint Paul's College is accredited by the Commission of Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools to award baccalaureate [bachelor’s] degrees.”  There is no mention of graduate degrees.

(VIDEO) OKONJO IWEALA VS HOUSE OF REPS FINANCE COMMITTEE

When on December 19, 2013, members of the House of Representatives Committee on Finance gave Nigeria’s Finance Minister, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, 50 questions on Nigeria’s current economic situation, they asked her to respond within two weeks.

A reliable source in the House said that the minister was, as at Monday evening, yet to respond to the questions, three days after the two-week ultimatum given by the lawmakers expired. The source, however, said the minister could still answer the questions before the lawmakers resume from their Yuletide vacation next Monday.

                                            IWEALA VS HOUSE FINANCE COMMITTEE

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However, the presentation of the questions to the minister had its own drama, with an exclusive video, showing the minister initially making jest of the lawmakers after they informed her of their decision to hand her the 50-question homework.