OSCAR 2014 NOMINATIONS - THE FULL LIST

12 Years a Slave," "American Hustle," "Captain Phillips," "Dallas Buyers Club," "Gravity," "Her," "Nebraska," "Philomena" and "The Wolf of Wall Street" received top honors as the nominees for best picture when Oscar nominations were announced Thursday morning.

"American Hustle" and "Gravity" led the field with 10 nominations each, with both films also earning director nods. "12 Years a Slave" followed with nine nominations.

The 86th Academy Awards, hosted by Ellen DeGeneres, will be held on March 2 at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood.

See full list after the cut..................

FORCES BEHIND TUKUR'S SACK

Politicians are known to be boastful. The former National Chairman of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, is not an exception. Even when it was clear that the drummers who were playing music for him had since dropped their drums and were no longer ready to sing his praises, Tukur soldiered on. He believed that the tide could still change and he would retain his much-treasured exalted position.

Thus, when he had even dropped his resignation letter, Tukur said he was still in power. He told the unsuspecting journalists at the State House that he had not dropped his resignation letter.

2FACE EXPANDS INVESTMENT IN HOSPITALITY

2face Idibia is a wise investor as he is expanding his investments in hospitality with the launch of his Rumors Nite Club in FESTAC Town, Lagos.

The property is said to be worth over N250 Million. The club which opened its doors in the New Year to fun seekers, is an extension of 2face’s club in GRA, Ikeja under the same.

Since birthing in Festac Town, Rumors has already become a hotspot for night crawlers especially around the Festac Town vicinity. The club will officially be opened in February with Victoria Island as its next target location.

OGUN STATE APC CRISIS IS ESCALATING AS 2 SENATORS 4 REPS NARROWLY ESCAPED DEATH IN SHOOTOUT

Gov. Amosun - Ogun State

THE crisis  rocking the All Progressives Congress, APC, in Ogun State took  a dangerous turn yesterday, when some hoodlums unleashed terror on the supporters of  Senator Gbenga Obadara, representing  Ogun Central senatorial district and a member of the House of Representatives,  representing Ifo/Ewekoro constituency, Kunle Adeyemi.

During the pandemonium which broke out in Wasimi, Ewekoro Local Government Area of the state at  1: 38 pm, nine  members of the party were shot, including a police orderly, Sergeant Sunday Akinbode, by political thugs believed to be loyal to a faction of the party while several others sustained injuries.

WHY PRESIDENT JONATHAN SACKED SERVICE CHIEFS!!!!!

Indications emerged, yesterday, why President Goodluck Jonathan sacked the service chiefs and appointed new ones. The sack of the service chiefs,, was to prevent an implosion in the Armed Forces that was capable of threatening the country’s democracy.

Their sack came less than seven months after a Federal High Court sitting in Abuja, declared the appointments of the Service Chiefs in the country by the President  without recourse to the National Assembly as unconstitutional, illegal, null and void.

LIGHTNING KILLS TOURIST AS SHE RAN INTO THE SEA TO WARN HER SON TO GET OUT OF THE WATER

A mother was killed in front of her family when she was struck by lightning on a Brazilian beach.

Rosangela Biavati a 36-year-old married mother of one, died instantly when she was hit by the bolt of electricity during a trip to Guaruja, a popular seaside resort on the coast of Sao Paulo.

(PICTURES) NBA HOLDS THE FIRST GANI FAWEHINMI MEMORIAL RALLY

NEW VIDEO > SILIFA < SKUKI

    

This video was shot by the legendary Clarence Peters for the SKUKI brothers in South Africa..... Silifa Silifa Silifa.......  hmmmm..... Naija videos this days though..................

WATCH VIDEO HERE.

(CHAN 2014) NIGERIA DEFEATS MOZAMBIQUE 4-2 AS EAGLES GOALKEEPER FUMBLES

Home-based Super Eagles yesterday resurrected their African Nations Championship  (CHAN) hopes with a 4-2 defeat of the Black Mambas of Mozambique at the Cape Town Stadium.

Having lost their opening Group A matches to Mali and South Africa on Saturday respectively, Nigeria and Mozambique  knew that another defeat was going to end their campaign here.

                                                         NIGERIA 4 MOZAMBIQUE 2

NO NIGERIAN REFEREE FOR BRAZIL 2014 WORLD CUP

Peter Edibi

Hopes of having a Nigerian refereeing at the 2014 FIFA World Cup billed for Brazil was dashed after Peter Edibi was dropped in the final list released by FIFA Referees Committee on Wednesday.

Edibi, one of the prospective assistant referees from among the officials from 10 African countries, was not named among the eight assistant referees for the mundial.

The committee, under the Chairmanship of Jim Boyce, appointed 25 referee trios and eight support duos representing 43 countries for the 2014 World Cup.

CORRUPTION WORSENED UNDER OBASANJO - TUNDE BAKARE

Convener of Save Nigeria Group, Pastor Tunde Bakare, on Wednesday said former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s administration raised the bar of corruption in the country, notwithstanding the ex-President’s “supposed achievements” in office. 

Bakare spoke in Lagos as the guest lecturer at the 10th Chief Gani Fawehinmi Annual Lecture/Symposium, organised by the Ikeja Branch of the Nigerian Bar Association.

The event, with the theme, ‘Nigeria at centenary: A nation still in bondage?,’ was chaired by former President of the Court of Appeal, Justice Ayo Salami (retd.).

(PICTURES) IRANIAN MAN GOES 60 YRS WITHOUT BATHING

In a society where primping and prepping is a daily habit, now showering for a few days might seem utterly disgusting. Well, what if that lack of daily bathing extended to months — even years? The thought might be unfathomable to most. 

This, however, is not the case for an Iranian man who has reportedly broken the world record for the longest time without taking a bath, according to pictures published by the Iranian News Agency (IRNA).

OKONJO IWEALA RESPONDS TO THE 50 QUESTIONS POSED BY THE HOUSE OF REPS COMMITTEE ON FINANCE

We are pleased to provide responses to a set of 50 questions, which were submitted, to us by the House of Representatives Finance Committee on 19th  December 2013 (NASS/7HR/CT.32/1999). We are somewhat surprised  by the content  of  many of these questions for  a number  of reasons.

First, the responses to most of these questions are already in the public domain, and have been extensively debated by the government, media, civil society organizations and the private sector. We have answered these questions or similar ones many times before various Committees of the National Assembly. Nevertheless, we are pleased to answer them again with supporting data and analyses.

Second, the questions are repetitive in several instances (for example, questions 28, 34 and 40 on the benchmark oil price), and in some cases are directly contradictory (for example, questions 5 and 9 on debt management). This makes it somewhat confusing for those trying to respond.

DEATH TOLL RISES TO 43 IN MAIDUGURI AS BOKO HARAM CONTINUES KILLING RAMPAGE

Death toll in Tuesday’s deadly bomb attack on Maiduguri, the Borno State capital by Boko Haram has risen from 30 to 43. Also, about three hours after the Maiduguri incident, gunmen suspected to be members of the  sect invaded another village in the state and killed five people.

A mortuary attendant at the Borno State Specialists Hospital, Maiduguri where the corpses were deposited, who pleaded anonymity because he was not allowed to talk to the press on the incident, said he counted 43 corpses brought to the hospital’s morgue after the explosion on Tuesday.

The attendant said, “Please, do not mention my name but let me tell you that 43 mangled and burnt corpses were brought in at different times on Tuesday.” Efforts by journalists to enter the hospital’s mortuary were frustrated by security men and the management of the health institution. The hospital was heavily guided and visitors and relations of the victims were not given easy access to the mortuary. It was however observed that many injured victims were receiving treatment at various wards in the State Specialists Hospital and the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital.

BAMANGA TUKUR (PDP NATIONAL CHAIRMAN) RESIGNS FORCEFULLY

Bamanga Tukur, the embattled National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), has resigned. 

Sources say he tendered his resignation to President Goodluck Jonathan in Abuja today, and the staff of the party secretariat is reportedly celebrating his departure.

Mr. Tukur’s resignation has not been made public officially according to party executives.

Tukur had insisted that he would not resign, saying that it was only the party's convention that could remove him, but he was said to have been pressured to resign by his son, Anwal. 

The insistence by PDP governors and the passing of a vote of no confidence on him by the 37 state chairmen of the party on Tuesday night are said to have made Anwal to persuade his father to quit the job.

The governors will definitely install their preferred candidate and seize control of the party machinery. This is a big blow to Jonathan's 2nd term bid.

Anwal nurses dreams of becoming governor of Adamawa, the Tukurs’ home state, and a part of Bamanga Tukur’s problems at the National Secretariat concern the undemocratic methods he has employed in Adamawa in the past couple of years to ensure Anwal becomes governor.

DEADLY ELEPHANT ATTACK IN SOUTH AFRICA LEAVES COUPLE INJURED

This is the moment an enraged bull elephant flipped over a car containing a British teacher and her fiance during an African safari.

Sarah Brooks, 30, and her fiance were filming the animal from their car as it drank at a waterhole when it turned and went for them. It flipped their vehicle and shunted it around 130ft down a track into thick bushland.

KIM JONG-UN MAY HAVE EXECUTED HIS UNCLE BECAUSE OF "PLEASURE BRIGADES OF YOUNG GIRLS"

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un may have executed his uncle because of his role as a procurer of a ‘pleasure brigade’ of young girls.

Jang Song Thaek allegedly had the task of recruiting girls – some as young as 15 – for the country’s late dictator Kim Jong Il.

According to a former family sushi chef, Kenji Fujimoto, North Korea’s 31-year-old leader was disgusted by his father’s immoral antics and has now punished his uncle for abusing his position.

MEET "IBRAHIM JADRAN" THE 32-YR-OLD MILITIA LEADER HOLDING LIBYA'S OIL HOSTAGE

A 32-year-old Libyan militia leader, sitting since July on billions of dollars of oil in the eastern part of the country, was defiant in an exclusive interview Tuesday with CNN’s Christiane Amanpour.

“This government has allowed Libya to become one of the most corrupted five states in the world,” Ibrahim Jadran said. “The government is not able to defend itself.” Perhaps no single person better illustrates the post-war woes of Libya than Jadran.

In 2012, he was entrusted by the government to guard Libya's crucial eastern oil ports. But last July he went rogue, seizing the ports – blocking oil exports – and demanding more autonomy and shared revenues for his eastern region, which he calls by its ancient Roman name, Cyrenaica.

OPC BEGINS MANHUNT FOR SUSPECTS INVOLVED IN THE "TORTURE OF PEPPER SELLERS" IN EJIGBO, LAGOS

Members  of the O’odua People’s Congress (OPC) have begun a manhunt for the those involved in the torture and brutalisation of two women accused of stealing pepper in Ejigbo, Lagos State.

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The manhunt was instituted on Tuesday after  the founder of the group, Dr Frederick Fasehun, ordered members of the congress to hunt for the culprits and turn them over to law enforcement agents.

25-YR-OLD MAN REMANDED IN PRISON FOR RAPING 23-YR-OLD WOMAN IN OYO STATE

An Ibadan Chief Magistrates’ Court on Monday remanded 25-year-old Adeniji Ojo in Agodi Prisons over alleged rape of a 23-year-old woman.

The Chief Magistrate, Alhaja Fatima Badrudeen, ordered that the accused should be kept behind bars pending advice from the State Director of Public Prosecutions.