MIRACLE NAMED WINNER OF BBNAIJA 2018

By Saminu Machunga

After eleven weeks of intense drama, Miracle has emerged winner of the 2018 edition of the Big Brother Naija reality show.

The pilot will take home the N45 million grand prize and will be presented a sports utility vehicle when he returns to Nigeria.

Cee-C was the first runner-up while Tobi Bakre emerged second runner-up. The other two finalists were Nina and Alex.

Miracle won the most tasks and emerged head of house on multiple occasions.

For the finale, he got 38.18 percent of the votes, Cee-C had 28.04, Tobi secured 22.53 while Alex and Nina had 7.07 and 4.18 respectively.

Ebuka Obi-Uchendu, host of the show, announced that Big Brother Naija recorded 170 million votes throughout the season.

A tweet by Japheth Omojuwa, a social commentator, explains why Miracle may have won

The 2018 edition of Big Brother Naija started quite different from the norm through the pairing of the housemates with strategic partners.

Pairing the housemates meant that two people will suffer the consequences of the actions of one person and vice versa.

Over the course of the 82-day show, viewers witnessed budding romances between Teddy A and BamBam, Lolu and Anto, Nina and Miracle, and Tobi and Cee-C/Alex.

The show also opened doors for evicted housemates like Teddy A, who caught the attention of Iyanya and Rico Swavey who got an investment commitment from IGoDye.

Efe Ejeba won the 2017 edition of the Big Brother Naija show which paved the way for the music career he currently pursues.

The building where the contestants are housed is situated in South Africa.

Source: thecable.ng

SIFAX GROUP CONSORTIUM WINS WARRI PORT TERMINAL CONCESSION

  The SIFAX Group-led consortium, Ocean and Cargo Terminal Services Limited, has been declared the preferred bidder of Terminal B, Warri Old Port.

At a well-attended meeting today at the Conference Room of the Bureau of Public Enterprises at Abuja, SIFAX Group-led consortium beat other bidders to emerge the preferred bidder of the port. The event had in attendance the representatives of the National Council for Privatisation (NCP), the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE), the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), the Infrastructural Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC), among others.

The Expression of Interest for the port was advertised in 2014. At the deadline for the submission, of the EOIs, 13 applications were received.  Out of the 13 applications, seven were pre-qualified. Out of these pre-qualified bidders, five were able to submit their technical and financial proposals on 31st January 2017, the deadline for submission of the proposals.
These five companies are Marine Infrastructure Consortium, Bright Ocean Integrated Services Limited, Ecomarine Consortium, Ocean and Cargo Terminal Services Limited and Neon Warri Ports Consortium. At the end of the evaluation of the technical proposal, Ecomarine Consortium and Ocean and Cargo Terminal Services Limited’s financial bids were qualified for the financial bid opening stage.
After the open transparent competitive bid process which is in line with international best practices, Ocean and Cargo Terminal Services Limited was declared the concessionaire of Terminal B, Old Warrri Port. The concession is for a period of 25 years.
Speaking immediately after the announcement, Dr. Taiwo Afolabi, Group Executive Vice Chairman, SIFAX Group, expressed his appreciation to both the BPE and NCP for the transparent exercise, adding that the concession will enjoy the same midas touch that has now become the hallmark of SIFAX Group’s businesses.

He said: “This is a great news for us as a company to have led this consortium to win this very competitive bid. While we are glad that we have emerged the preferred bidder, we are not unaware of the enormous responsibility this victory has conferred on us. However, it is a familiar territory for us having operated the Terminal C at the Tin Can Island Port, Lagos successfully in the last 12 years. We will fall back on the experience and expertise we have developed running the terminal to make a difference at the Warri Port.”
On his own part, Mr. John Jenkins, Group Managing Director, SIFAX Group, said the company, which is noted for its adherence to international best practices, will set new standards with the management of the new terminal.
He said: “BPE, NPA and other relevant government agencies should look forward to an efficient port management system when we formally take over the control of the terminal while the clients are in for an unparalleled customer-focused service delivery that will put them at the heart of our operations.”

ADEWALE TEMITOPE ADEDEJI AGREES TO REPRESENT IFAKO-IJAIYE

Aide to Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Adewale Temitope has finally succumbed to the wish of his people by accepting to represent Ifako-Ijaiye constituency 1 the State House of Assembly come 2019.

Popularly referred to as ATA by in political sphere, Adewale Temitope Adedeji believes that Politics is dirty because of the heartbreaks and the antics that comes with it as he categorically stated that politics does not does not and should not involve diabolism.

When asked, he simply described Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu as not just a boss but also as a mentor, political genius, master strategist and above all, a leader with a golden heart. To him, the Asiwaju is simple, unique man, first among equals and one of a kind to reckon with.

Adewale was one of those who started the not too young to run campaign in 2009, with a mission to sensitise Nigerian youths to get involved in politics. He was one of the pioneering members of the Young Achievers Campaign Organisation of Nigeria (YACOON), a group that massively worked to sensitise the youths about the need to participate in the affairs that concern the citizenry coupled with the fact that he is presently the Special Assistant to the National Leader of APC , Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu on Youths, Politics and Policy, Mr. Adewale believes that the youths are gradually getting aware more than ever before of their important roles and responsibilities in the society.

Besides being a current Senior Special Assistant (SSA) to Leader of All Progressive Congress, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Adewale who was also former SSA to former governor of Lagos State, Babatunde Raji Fashola on Works and Infrastructure has learnt from the masters of the game. His early years in public service saw serving with the former Governors of Abia and Borno State at different times and at various capacity.

A respected public servant and successful entrepreneur, Adewale is of the belief that he has what it takes to appropriately represent his constituency. Born and bred in Ifako-Ijaiye, he is very conversant with every nooks and crannies of the local government.

His father, a medical doctor, who joined the police force and rose to the position of Assistant Commissioner of Police before veering into politics and represented his constituency at the National Assembly before his demise in 2016 had ingrained in him the virtue of service to the people. This he found himself doing even when his father was alive.

“My politics is not a social media experiment,” he explains. “l am a grassroots politician. My politics goes as far as into the wards level.

 On what he considers his greatest achievement in life so far, he says with philosophical calmness: “Putting smiles on the faces of people. Sometimes people come to me with their problems. My little contributions have gone a long way. This makes me happy.”

WINNIE MANDELA - THE YOUNG MOTHER WHO REFUSED TO BE BROKEN

By Milton Nkosi

The death of South Africa's veteran anti-apartheid activist Winnie Madikizela-Mandela at the age of 81 has sparked a national debate about how she should be remembered.

The more traditional sections of society, including her staunch supporters, want us to remember her as a faultless woman.

Others, particularly those who are still in the trenches fighting the old battles in favour of white supremacy, want us to remember Mrs Madikizela-Mandela as a violent and deeply flawed individual.

But anyone who wants to truly understand the Winnie Madikizela-Mandela I knew needs to go back in time and trace the steps of humiliation she suffered under the racist system of apartheid.

She was a freedom fighter; a revolutionary who was at the coalface of the anti-

apartheid struggle - not an armchair activist who waged a revolution on Twitter or Facebook.

She was left to raise two young daughters when her husband of four years, Nelson Mandela, was arrested in 1962 and sentenced to life in prison on the notorious Robben Island prison.

An activist in her own right, Mrs Madikizela-Mandela was once arrested in her pyjamas. The police refused to grant her permission to get her relative, who lived a block away, to come and stay with her children.

Torture chamber

In 1969, she was locked in solitary confinement for 491 days. She was even left in her cell when she was on her period, without sanitary towels.

Her cell was adjacent to a torture chamber.

"Prisoner number 1323/69" wrote in her diary, which was later published in a book entitled 491 Days, that the screams of women being beaten from across the walls will never leave her mind.

Later, at a time when many other anti-apartheid leaders were languishing in jail or in exile, she not only represented the liberation movement. She was The Movement.

When she moved, the frontline moved with her. She did not fill the vacuum left by Mr Mandela. She simply took her rightful place at the centre of the battle for the freedom of black people.

When the apartheid regime found her to be too powerful to handle, it resorted to banishing her from her home in the commercial capital, Johannesburg, to the small rural town of Brandfort in what was then the Orange Free State, a bastion of white supremacy.

She was not allowed to receive visitors, but she travelled daily to the local post office to make phone calls telling the world about the brutality of the apartheid system.

Beautiful and charismatic

Having read and listened to the many comments since her passing on Monday, it became clear to me that some people either do not know history or they have selective amnesia.

One example is the reaction of former newspaper columnist David Bullard who wrote on Twitter: "So, after an educational night on Twitter, we're all agreed then. Winnie was a saint who fought bravely against apartheid and only set fire to people or had kids murdered when it was absolutely necessary."

Such people seem to have forgotten the trauma Mrs Madikizela-Mandela experienced at the hands of those who enforced some of the most racist and sexist laws the world has ever seen.

However, her character, sheer strength and willpower could not be suppressed.

In January 1985, US Senator Edward Kennedy visited her in Brandfort, describing her as someone who was "very courageous and was very concerned for her country".

It was a poignant moment - an African woman, removed from society as punishment for asking for basic human rights, getting a visit from one of the most powerful politicians in the US. This sent a clear message that she - and black people - were not alone in the struggle against apartheid.

Mrs Madikizela-Mandela was not just a fearless freedom fighter, she was incredibly beautiful. Even if you were an apartheid-era policeman who met her, you would not forget her face, eyes, and beautiful smile. She also had a unique charisma, and was in many ways, regal.

But she was not perfect. She had her flaws.

She was convicted of fraud and being an accessory to kidnapping.

Any fair-minded person cannot reflect on Mrs Madikizela-Mandela's life without mentioning 14-year-old Stompie Sepei. He died at the hands of her scandal-prone football club, bodyguards and driver, after being falsely accused of being an apartheid spy.

Her support for "necklacing" suspected traitors by putting a tyre around their necks, dousing them with petrol and setting them alight also put her in direct conflict with her comrades.

'Apartheid's legacy'

Following her death, anti-apartheid activist and opposition politician Mosiuoa Lekota said: "Those who did nothing under apartheid never made mistakes."

All these experiences and more left her traumatised. Some suspect she suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder, which was never treated because she went from one brutal treatment to the next without delay.

I will never forget the day Archbishop Desmond Tutu pleaded with her at the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, formed to heal the wounds of apartheid, to say "sorry" for all the things that had gone wrong. She only agreed to acknowledge that sometimes things "went horribly wrong."

Author Charlene Smith, who knew Mrs Madikizela-Mandela from the mid-1970s, could not have put it more succinctly when she posted on Facebook:

"Winnie is the Conscience of a Nation that has already forgotten the tragedy of apartheid history; even in her death, people do not realize how she suffered, how damaged she became and how it hurt her and those who cared for her most.

"South Africa today has one of the worst crime rates in the world, it has millions of damaged people - they are apartheid's legacy. It is in remembering and healing a wounded people that we honor the legacy of Winnie Madikizela Mandela. Sleep with the angels Nomzamo."

Source: BBC

REMEMBERING MAYA ANGELOU

Her birthday is the same date as the assassination of her friend and colleague in the US civil rights movement, Dr Martin Luther King Jr.

Maya Angelou, who would have been 90 today 4 April, remains one of America’s most influential writers, artists and cultural figureheads.

Her series of seven autobiographical works, beginning with the seminal coming of age story, I Know Why the Cage Bird Sings, overhauled the memoir genre, tackling rape, racism and trauma and catapulted Angelou to international acclaim.

Her birthday is the same date as the assassination of her friend and colleague in the US civil rights movement,  Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, whom she met in 1960 after hearing him speak.

Following the meeting, Angelou, who was already a successful singer, organised the Cabaret for Freedom to support Dr King’s Southern Christian Leadership Conference. In 1968 Dr King asked her to organise a civil rights march, to which she agreed, but it came shortly before he was assassinated.

She had also become friends with Malcolm X, who she met in Ghana, where she lived during the early 1960s, working as a writer and editor as well as broadcasting on radio. In 1965 she returned to the US to help him create a new civil rights organisation - the Organisation of Afro-American Unity, but he was assassinated shortly afterwards.

While living a life full enough to write seven acclaimed autobiographies makes condensing Angelou’s extraordinary life into a short article an impossible task, here are five things you may not have known about her.

She was a professional dancer

In her early 20s, recently married and with a young son, Angelou began studying modern dance in San Francisco. She formed the dance team Al and Rita, before Angelou decided to move to New York in order to study African dance with Trinidadian dancer Pearl Primus. She went on to dance professionally in clubs in San Francisco, including at the famous beat-era nightclub, The Purple Onion.

Her success as a calypso dancer paved the way for Angelou to record her first album as a singer, Miss Calypso.

She won a Grammy award

Though Angelou saw success as a singer, she won a Grammy award in 1995 not for her many musical works, but for a recording of her poem On The Pulse of Morning, which she recited at the inauguration of President Bill Clinton in 1993.

The recitation was the first at a presidential inauguration since Robert Frost at President John F Kennedy’s 1961 inauguration.

She directed a film starring Wesley Snipes

Wesley Snipes, whose more famous roles are for action films such as Demolition Man and the Blade trilogy, was among the cast in Angelou’s 1996 film Down in the Delta.

The film explored family tragedy, drugs, race and prejudice, and redemption.

Her writing routine involved sherry, the bible and a deck of cards

Angelou’s writing routine remains the stuff of legends.

According to several sources, in later life when already a successful writer, Angelou would get up at 5am and check into a hotel room where staff had been told to take down any pictures from the walls.

She would then lie on the bed with a bottle of sherry, Roget’s Thesaurus and the Bible, as well as a deck of cards to play Solitaire with. She wrote on yellow legal pads and reportedly averaged 10-12 pages a day, which she then edited down to three or four pages in the evening.

She wrote about working in the sex trade to help people speak about their experiences

According to her autobiographies, Angelou worked as a prostitute and also as a madame for lesbian prostitutes.

In a 1995 interview, she explained the importance of writing about these subjects.

She said: “I wrote about my experiences because I thought too many people tell young folks, 'I never did anything wrong. Who, Moi? - never I. I have no skeletons in my closet. In fact, I have no closet.' They lie like that and then young people find themselves in situations and they think, 'Damn I must be a pretty bad guy. My mom or dad never did anything wrong.' They can’t forgive themselves and go on with their lives.”

Source: Independent

POPE BAPTISES ILLEGAL NIGERIAN MIGRANT WHO FOILED ROBBERY AT ITALIAN SHOP

John Ogah, an illegal Nigerian migrant adjudged a hero after foiling a robbery at an Italian shop, has been baptised by Pope Francis.

In September 2017, Ogah earned the admiration of many after he confronted an armed robber who had stolen some money from a supermarket located in Rome’s Centocelle neighbourhood.

Prior to that, the 31-year-old left Nigeria for Libya, in 2014, while attempting to escape a criminal gang that wanted to recruit him, according to Italian media.

He later found his way to Italy and after his request for asylum was rejected in 2016 but he decided to stay on as an undocumented migrant.

As what had become his normal routine, he was outside the supermarket begging for money when a masked thief armed with a meat cleaver tried to escape with €400 he had stolen from the supermarket’s cashiers.

But Ogah confronted him — with bare hands and wrestled him down till the police arrived the scene.

“I wouldn’t have cared if he had killed me that day, what he did was not good.” John told the BBC, adding: “The Bible says thou shalt not steal. Yes, thou shalt not steal.”

He later got three jobs offers after the incident and was able secure an Italian residency permit, with the help of the police.

As part of Easter service at the Vatican, he was baptised by the Pope alongside seven others from across the world.

Ogah described the experience to BBC as a “great surprise” to him and the “happiest” in his life.

“To be baptised by the Pope, it means a great future, a great blessing,” he was quoted to have said. “I was nobody before, but now I become somebody.

“I feel so happy right now. The Pope laid his hand on me.…and believed I am somebody.”

Source: thecable.ng

SOME YEARS AGO, A MOTHER GAVE BIRTH TO 6 BEAUTIFUL BABIES. HERE’S HOW THE FAMILY LOOKS LIKE TODAY!

The beauty of internet lies in the wonderful stories of people across the world that one gets to read. To experience someone else’s life is rather interesting. That’s how a few years ago a story of a wonderful family became viral overnight. And now, we’re back again to be inspired by their lives after all these years.

The story is about the couple Mia and Rozonno McGhee. Married for several years, they were desperately trying to conceive. However, when the good news came, it shocked them. Mia was pregnant with six babies, a sextuplet. The young couple had a lot of planning to do!

With having twins even being rare, a natural sextuplet birth is a one in a 4.7 billion chance. It’s an extremely rare occurrence even with fertility treatments and such.

US has only six sets of sextuplets at present and so McGhee family broke several records. As a matter of fact, when they were born in 2010 they were the first sextuplets in Columbus, Ohio.  

Brian Killian, photographer, took their first shots as a family on Rozonno’s back. When this photo surfaced online, people went crazy and the family became celebrities overnight. Their lives completely changed.

They had the opportunity to go to Oprah to share the news of their beautiful children and funny accounts of their life as new parents. Raising six children together is no easy task but it landed them on Oprah and they only had good things in store for them.

Seeing their rising fame, they were approached with the idea of a reality show called “Six Little McGhees”. The family was delighted for the chance and the show charmed the nation’s heart for three years.

Although there are several internet stars who fizzle out pretty fast but the McGhees were loved always. They retained their popularity and kept charming our hearts.

However, parenting is really difficult for them. Raising six kids simultaneously and preparing them for school is surely tiresome. It also means working extra hard to keep all the mouths fed. Mia and Rozonno run a full-time carpet cleaning enterprise in addition to raising the kids, and it surely is exhausting.

Married for a long 17 years, the McGhees have stayed strong and beautiful throughout all hardships. They have wonderful supportive fans and to thank them, they reshot the popular photograph that kick started their media career. The babies have now grown but they’re just as adorable.

Their fame doesn’t end here. They are in talks for a new show called ‘Growing Up McGhee’ and it will surely be even more popular than the previous one.

Source: thebuddy.me