Grandpa graduates from University of Ibadan with first class

A grandfather, Mr. Aderemi Alli, was among the 21 first class graduates produced by the University of Ibadan at its convocation on Thursday in Ibadan.
The university graduated a total of 1,582 students for the 2011/2012 academic session with 243 graduating in Second Class (Upper Division) and 920, Second Class (Lower Division).
A total of 135 of the students graduated with Third Class and 203 Pass.
The News Agency of Nigeria reports that Alli, 57, was among the three first class graduates produced by the institution’s Faculty of Law.
He had had a first degree in economics education 31 years ago.
Alli, whose last child is studying electrical engineering in UI, told journalists at the ceremony that he was motivated to study law because many of his schoolmates had become Senior Advocates of Nigeria.
“I feel I can still participate in the society in spite of my age. I am using this medium to advise others that they can do it, if I can do it,” he said.
The Vice Chancellor, Prof. Isaac Adewole, said that of the 21 first class graduates, one was produced by the Faculty of Arts and 17 came from the university’s affiliated institutions.
He expressed regret that the university did not produce many first degree graduands due to the disruption of the 2011/2012 academic calendar which prevented some final year students from completing their courses.
 DailyPost

Nollywood actor Peter Eneh is dead

If feelers reaching us from Tinsel town are anything to go by, ace Nollywood actor, Pete Eneh is dead.
According to the information Dailypost gathered, the celebrated thespian passed away few moments ago, at Park Lane hospital in the Coal City of Enugu.
The actor, who had one of his legs amputated few days ago had been dithering between live and death over the past few weeks.
When this reporter put a call across to AGN president, Fiberisima Ibinabo for confirmation, she promised to get back to us.
More details shortly.
DailyPost

Why Popular Energy Drinks Could Be More Dangerous Than You Think

By Tara Culp-Ressler

Americans who consume popular energy drinks like Monster could be taking in unsafe levels of caffeine, new reports from the Food and Drug Administration suggest. The federal agency confirmed yesterday that it has received reports of 13 deaths over the past four years that cite the 5-Hour Energy drink as a possible cause — and that’s on top of previous reports that say Monster may have contributed to five deaths over the past three years.
Although the FDA’s incident reports don’t provide conclusive scientific evidence for the cause of death, The New York Times reports that the agency has documented multiple links between energy drinks and American deaths:

Since 2009, 5-Hour Energy has been mentioned in some 90 filings with the F.D.A., including more than 30 that involved serious or life-threatening injuries like heart attacks, convulsions and, in one case, a spontaneous abortion, a summary of F.D.A. records reviewed by The New York Times showed. [...]
The number of reports filed with the F.D.A. that mention 5-Hour Energy appears particularly striking. In 2010, for example, the F.D.A. received a total of 17 fatality reports that mentioned a dietary supplement or a weight loss product, two broad categories that cover more than 50,000 products, according to Mr. Fabricant, the F.D.A. official. [...]
Another federal agency, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, reported late last year that more than 13,000 emergency room visits in 2009 were associated with energy drinks alone.

Energy drinks, which are especially popular among young people, represent the fastest-growing segment of the soft drink industry, with sales totaling around $9 billion. But energy drink companies are currently able to sidestep some FDA regulatory guidelines by marketing their products as “drinks” or “dietary supplements.” Companies that classify their products as drinks do not have to report to the FDA, and they don’t have to disclose how much caffeine is their products.
And since reporting caffeine levels remains optional, many energy drink companies choose to forgo it — or in some cases, even falsely advertise it to downplay how much caffeine is really in their beverages. According to Consumer Reports, 11 of the country’s 27 top-selling energy drinks don’t specify the amount of caffeine in their products, and five of the 16 drinks that did list their caffeine amount actually contained more caffeine per serving than their labels claimed.
The FDA says it doesn’t currently have enough scientific information to change its regulatory practices over the energy drink industry, although some lawmakers are pressuring the agency to look into the issue further. Last month, Sens. Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) asked the FDA to investigate the effect that energy drinks’ caffeine levels could have on children and adolescents. And in July, New York’s Atorney General issued subpoenas to three energy drink companies to obtain more information on the their marketing practices.
TP

Tinubu ejects LGA from headquarters, prepares to construct serviced luxury flats on property

Controversial former Lagos State Governor and leader of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), Asiwaju Bola Tinubu has taken over a prime property that was once the headquarters of Ikoyi-Obalande Local Government Development Area and relocated the local government secretariat to Obalende, a district in the commercial city of Lagos.
The huge and strategic parcel of land located at the junction of Alfred Rewane Road (Kingsway Road) and Glover Road in highbrow Ikoyi has been demolished to make way for prime construction believed to be blocks of serviced luxury flats.
The acquisition of the property is coming on the heels of the ACN’s defeat in the local government chairmanship election for Ikoyi-Obalende Local Council Development Area by the Peoples Democratic Party’s (PDP) candidate, Mr. Ibrahim Babatunde Obanikoro.
The politician has also cornered the contract to reconstruct Glover Road using a proxy company P.W. Nigeria Limited.
Though THEWILL has not been able to get details of the transaction, several sources say the politician is recklessly acquiring properties in prime locations across the state with the assistance of current Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babatunde Raji Fashola (SAN).
Tinubu’s acquisitions since he left office cuts across real estate, media and aviation. His company AlphaBeta Consulting collects all Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) for Lagos State and some ACN controlled states. It gets to keep a sizeable chunk for itself. AlphaBeta is believed to rake in as much as N7 billion naira monthly as commission for its work.
The politician is also believed to own FirstNation Airlines, The Nation Newspaper, stakes in Oriental Hotel Victoria Island, Renaissance Hotel Ikeja, Eko Hotel Lagos, and the yet to be completed InterContinental Hotel located along Kofo Abayomi Street, near the popular Mega Plaza in Victoria Island. Tinubu also owns TV Continental (TVC) and Radio Continental.
The former Governor who was engulfed in a University certificate scandal during his tenure as Governor, also owns a huge shopping mall complex in Alausa, Ikeja, popularly called Shoprite by its mainland patrons.
THEWILL gathered that the shopping complex was constructed on a large parcel of land believed to have been hijacked from the Lagos State Government.
In a similar gestapo-style move, the governor also bullied Lagosians and acquired the Lekki-Epe highway, reconstructed and tolled the road under a highly controversial agreement.
 DailyPost

Nigeria rated 2nd most corrupt nation in the world

Another heavy knock has come on Nigerian government as the newest rating on corruption indicates that the acclaimed giant of the Africa is the second most corrupt nation in the world.
The rating according to a Gallup poll shows that the rate of corruption in the country is getting out of hand.
Gallup, in its first-ever report on “Global States of Mind: New Metrics for World Leaders,” said 94 percent of Nigerians believe there is prevalent corruption in government.
The poll reveals that in the world, only Kenyans believe their government is more corrupt. About 96 percent of Kenyans said there is widespread corruption in their government while only five percent of Singaporeans said their government is corrupt.
Gallup said last year’s revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt where GDP was rising, shows that world leaders need more than just GDP and other traditional economic metrics to run their countries.
“Economic data are becoming less and less valuable because they tend to be outdated by the time they are made available. More significantly, GDP is less valuable because leaders now need to know much more than what people are spending—they need to know what they are thinking; GDP isn’t enough if you are watching for instability,” said Jim Clifton, Gallup Chairman and CEO.
“All institutes worldwide knew GDP was rising in Tunisia and Egypt. They knew what 11 million Tunisians and 80 million Egyptians were buying and selling—but they didn’t know what they were thinking,” Clifton added.
Clifton affirmed that GDP isn’t enough if leaders are trying to figure out levels of hunger, hopelessness, or suffering, stressing that the United Nations did not see those revolutions coming, neither did the World Economic Forum (WEF), nor the World Bank.
“The U.S. spends tens of billions on intelligence—and it missed those revolutions too,” Clifton said. Gallup’s World Poll spans more than 150 countries, territories, and areas, annually capturing what more than 98% of the world’s adult population is thinking on topics from basic needs to job creation. Gallup’s World Poll data set now includes more than 1 million interviews conducted since the research initiative started in 2005. Respondents were asked questions on law and order, food and shelter, institutions and infrastructure, good jobs, wellbeing, brain drain and quality GDP growth.” He said
DailyPost

Christian leaders chide Tunde Bakare •Say there is nothing wrong for a preacher to own a jet

by Kehinde Oyetimi 

Pastor Tunde Bakare

RELIGIOUS leaders and members of the Northern Christian Elders Forum (NORCEF) have criticised Pastor Tunde Bakare of the Latter Rain Assembly, Lagos, over his  comments that a  revolution would consume religious leaders in the country, just as he condemned the acquisition of jets by renowned Christian leaders in Nigeria.

Reacting to Bakare’s comments, the chairman of the Northern Christian Elders Forum, Evangelist Matthew Owojaiye, said Bakare’s comments should be ignored.

In a similar reaction, Apostle Isa El-Buba, General Overseer of Evangelical Bible Outreach Ministries International, Jos, Plateau State, defended preachers who own jets, concluding that Bakare’s condemnation of these men of God was blasphemous. “There is nothing wrong for a preacher to own a jet. If people in the secular world can acquire jets for chief executive officers of big private enterprises, there is nothing wrong in giving gifts to a man of God of Pastor Oritsejafor’s standing. This is a man of God that travels across the whole world. He deserves what he has been given.”

Similarly, the General Secretary of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Reverend Musa Asake, flayed Bakare, saying: “What is wrong with giving a gift to Pastor Oritsejafor? Did Pastor Oritsejafor embezzle church money? Did he collect somebody’s money? Some people came together and bought it for him so as to ease his work. This is to help him to continue with the work of the gospel. Oritsejafor is a man of God. He is doing everything for the work of God.

“It is a welcome idea. I support people who help ministers of the gospel in their work. He did not go out to lobby for it. It was a surprise for him. I was at that occasion. I saw things myself,” he argued.

President of the Delta State Baptist Conference, Reverend Gideon Oyibo, exonerated Pastor Oritsejafor, saying there was nothing wrong with such gesture.

“The environment influences the way people talk. If you come from a family background of poverty and a member of the family is rich, people will conclude that he is a ritualist. They will conclude that he has stolen money, because in that family, the members do not expect anybody to be rich.

“In Nigeria, we have a traditional environment in which a pastor is expected to operate by our own evaluation. Whenever a pastor is living above our own evaluation, then we can say anything about that person.

“The question we should ask is that: did Pastor Oritsejafor ask for the jet? Did he beg for it? Or was it that certain people gathered together under the leading of God and decided to buy it and present it to him as a gift?

“These ministers of God travel from one place to the other frequently. What is morally wrong if their movement is eased by getting a jet? What is morally wrong if someone gets a car for the purpose of making transportation easy? What is wrong if a pastor is given a jet as a gift so as to contribute to the expansion of the gospel which the Lord has entrusted to his care?” He asked.

However, Archbishop Magnus Atilade called on Bakare to exercise caution in his utterances, especially at this period of the nation’s history, just as he argued that his reactions were not necessary.

“It is not good to reject any gift. What is expected is that once a person is given a gift, then it should be taken and put to the use that it is meant for. If it is not needed, then it can be converted to other things that can help for the work of the gospel.

“I urge Tunde Bakare to exercise temperance in his statements and utterances. Nothing should be condemned outrightly. The Bible kicks against being judgmental. Billy Graham had a means of a private jet which aided him in travelling round the world. If your ministry is as wide as that and you can afford it, then there is nothing wrong with that,” he said.
NigerianTribune

London Court Freezes Ubah’s Assets Worldwide

Ifeanyi Uba

Davidson Iriekpen  and Tobi Soniyi

A London High Court of Justice, Queen’s Bench Division, has placed a worldwide order (mareva injunction) against the assets of Mr. Ifeanyi Ubah and his company, Capital Oil and Gas Industries Limited.

This is just as the feud between Ubah and the Chairman of Coscharis, Mr. Cosmos Maduka, has taken a new twist as the Capital Oil boss Wednesday  sent a petition to the Inspector-General of Police (IG), Mohammed Abubakar, alleging threats to his life. He demanded the arrest of Maduka over the alleged threat.

The order by the UK court, which was granted sequel to an application by Access Bank Plc, is aimed at preserving the assets of the respondents pending the determination of the suit brought before it by the bank.

The bank had alleged that Ubah and his company had fraudulently diverted the petroleum products it financed under the joint venture agreement between Capital Oil and Coscharis Motors Limited.

Also restrained alongside Ubah and Capital Oil and Gas Industries Limited, are Rofos Navigation Limited, Xifias Navigation Limited, Heli Navigation Limited and Tutbury Maritime Limited.

THISDAY checks revealed that the order of the UK court, obtained last Friday, was given three days after Ubah and his company obtained a similar injunction in Nigeria restraining the bank and Coscharis Motors Limited from interfering with his assets.
The court, presided over by Mr. Justice Cooke, ordered that until the return date or further order of the court, Ubah and company, Capital Oil, must not remove from England, Wales or any other part of the United Kingdom, any of their assets which are in England and Wales valued at over $133 million or in any way dispose of, deal with or diminish the value of any of their assets up to the same value.

The injunction covers the following assets: The property and assets of the respondent’s business known as Capital Oil and Gas Industries Limited at 1, Capital Oil Close, Westminster; Ibru Jetty Complex, Ibafon Apapa, Lagos State; or the sale of the money, if any of them have been sold.

The court also ordered that until a further order of the court, the respondent and each of the parties are prohibited from taking any steps whatsoever, whether directly or indirectly, to dissipate, dispose or in any way impinge on Access Bank’s right in and to any product covered by six Bills of Lading dated October 8, 2011, October 14, 2011, October 18, 2011, November 10, 2011, November 13, 2011, and December 21, 2011 including (but not limited) to products that have been and will be received into the shore tanks at Apapa, Lagos, and in particular, approximately 40,000 metric tonnes received in June/or August 2012.

The court further directed that Ubah and Capital Oil should within seven days of service of the order swear and serve on Access Bank’s solicitors an affidavit of all their assets worldwide exceeding £50,000 in value whether in their own names or not and whether solely or jointly owned, giving the value, location and details of such assets.

It noted that failure by the respondents to comply with the orders of the court would be tantamount to contempt of court.

The court also spelt out other consequences, which the respondents would face should they fail to comply with the orders to include being fined or have their assets seized.
The court further added that Ubah and officers of the company could be sent to prison and their assets seized should they fail to obey the orders.

The order of the court warned thus: “If you Capital Oil and Gas Industries Limited disobey this order, you may be held to be in contempt of court and may be fined or have your assets seized and your officers may be sent to prison, be fined or have their assets seized.

“If you Ifeanyi Patrick Ubah, disobey this order, you may be held to be in contempt of court and may be imprisoned, fined or have your assets seized.
“Any other person who knows of this order and does anything which helps or permits either of the respondents to breach the terms of the order may also be held to be in contempt of court and may be imprisoned, fined or have their assets seized.”

The court adjourned further hearing in the suit until November 16, 2012.
But Ubah, in a letter written to the IG through his counsel, Robinson Apkua, alleged that Maduka has been threatening his life.

The letter reads: "We are solicitors to Mr. Ifeanyi Ubah of Capital Oil and Gas Industries Ltd. and on whose behalf and mandate we write this petition.
“We write to formally inform you about the libellous publications against our client and also threats to his life by Chief Cosmas Maduka of Coscharis Group.

“Our client informed us that sometime in 2011 he entered into a business transaction with Maduka. The business was flourishing until Maduka became dissatisfied with the outcome of the business, consequent upon which he has filed a petition to your office.

“While your men are investigating the matter, which is purely a civil contractual relationship with its attendant rights and liabilities, Maduka went on air – Channels Television and AIT – to slander our client.
“He called our client all sorts of names ranging from a thief to an international fraudster. As though that was not enough and still not allowing your men to do their job, Maduka took four pages in some national newspapers libelled our client and repeated his slander.

“Our client's life is now being threatened as he receives anonymous calls urging him to pay those he owes, while also receiving text messages from unknown persons demanding that he must share the ‘loot’ apparently in reference to Maduka's allegation that he (Ubah) duped him of billions of naira.

“May we point out that our client has neither been convicted of any crime by any court law nor has he been adjudged liable for any breach of contractual business relationship with anyone, including Maduka."

Ubah’s counsel asked the IG to cause the arrest of Maduka, investigate the libellous publications and cause him to write a letter of apology within seven days or face legal action.

Apkua also asked the IG to warn Maduka to desist from further libellous publications against his client pending the conclusion of the police investigation and pending court case or he risks contempt of court.

ThisDay