Diouf Warns Mikel, Moses To Beware Of Rafa Benitez Says “It Could Be Hard”

A word of advice has been sent from Senegalese striker and former Liverpool front man, El-Hadji Diouf to Nigeria’s pair of Mikel Obi and Victor Moses. Diouf has warned the duo to brace up for tougher days ahead under interim manager, Rafa Benitez at Chelsea.

Diouf told Liverpoolfc.com that Benitez lacked adequate tolerance for African footballers but believes that Nigerian chief at Chelsea, Michael Emenalo, can protect his compatriots.
“Rafa has divisive tendencies, I know him well,” Diouf says of the Spaniard with nostalgia.
“Mikel and Moses have to watch out because they now have a manager who lacks the interest of African footballers. Rafa hardly said a word to me and (Salif) Diao though he met us at Anfield and I wondered why but I can see that he came for HiSpanisation at Liverpool and I don’t think the club has been the same ever since” he alleged.
“It could be hard for Mikel and Moses. The only good thing is that they have a top guy in Chelsea who is a Nigerian (Michael Emenalo); he should be able to take care of their interest.”
 InformationNigeria.org

The new STD that could kill you

It appears that there is a new STD that is killing men and its related to oral sex.  The Human papillomavirus (HPV) was once believed to have no effect on men, but it’s now found to be harmful to men as well as well as women.  In fact, giving someone unprotected oral sex or receiving it from them if they are infected can seriously jeopardize your health.  A new study has found a rapid increase in the number of throat and neck cancers over the last 12 years, with thousands of new cases occurring every single year.
BlackDoctor.org discusses the issue in more detail, noting that throat, mouth and neck cancers were once caused by tobacco use.  But although the use of tobacco has declined, the rates of certain cancers related to HPV have been on the rise.  The rate of STD infection is even greater in the black community, where a lower marital rate has led to an increase in the number of sex partners.  One researcher at a major university told YBW that he randomly tested 20 men in a barbershop and found that half of them were infected with Chlamydia without even knowing it.
According to the Journal of Clinical Oncology, over 11,000 cases of cervical cancer will be diagnosed this year, but the number has been declining.  Women regularly get Pap Smears, but men are less likely to go to the doctor.  As a result, the number of HPV-positive oropharyngeal cancer cases will rise to 8,700, with 7,400 of those cases in men.  The disease then festers within the mouth and throat of the victim, causing cancerous sores to emerge for those who are undiagnosed.
YNaija.com

Aregbesola Denies HND Holders Recruitment Into Osun Civil Service

Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola

The government of the state of Osun yesterday conducted civil service recruitment test for applicants into the state civil service. The test which reports say was as good as it gets pundits say was a commendable exercise from the state government who is planning to recruit hundreds into the state civil service to replace the retiring civil servants at the end of the year. Over ten thousand applicants, reports say obtained the recruitment form, but only 6,000 were considered to write the test. It was learnt that the number was reduced to 6,000 as only applicants with a university degree and holders of Higher National Diploma, HND with additional qualifications like PGD, ACA, etc. were considered, while holders of NCE, OND, and HND without additional qualifications were not considered.
The National Association of Technologists in Engineering, NATE, had been advocating for the government to put both university degree and HND on the same level, but it seems their efforts at stopping the disparity will continue to be frustrated by some people.
No one would expect someone like Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola to allow such policy in a state he governs, having graduated from The Polytechnic, Ibadan himself.
When asked why the government employed the policy in reducing the number of applicants who sat for the recruitment test, Governor Aregbesola reports say drifted away from the question to other things.
Some have suggested in the past that government should scrap polytechnic education if the graduates of the institution who have spent the same number of years spent by university graduates, and who usually are more technically sound than university graduates would not be regarded the same way university graduates are regarded. What the government will do about this, and how insistent NATE would be till they achieve what they want remains to be seen.
InformationNigeria.org

“I am richer than my father” – Ojukwu’s dis-inherited son

Sylvester Ojukwu

Controversy has continued to trail the Will of the late Igbo leader, Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu barely 48 hours after it was read.
The Will which stated that his first son, Sylvester Ojukwu, has no place in his multi-million property has raised more dusts than expected.
However, countering the content of the Will, Sylvester, who claimed he is richer than his father, doubted the authenticity of the Will, saying that it was concocted.
Sylvester said, “even if it is true, I am worth over N3 billion, which is more than the assets mentioned in my father’s Will”.
Referring to the Will as fake, the first son of the War lord said it looks very suspicious, “I am surprised, and I doubt that the Will was drafted by my father. It was a concoction.
The Will seemed to have been drafted in hurry by people desperate to achieve an aim. But, if it is the true Will of my father, I have no problem with that. After all, this is not the first time a first son is disinherited from his father’s Will. If truly my father disinherited me from his Will, that does not stop me from being Ojukwu’s first son,” he stated.
It would be recalled that Sylvester once dragged his family members to court for not allowing him to perform the ‘dust to dust’ rites during the interment of the late Biafran leader.
But fighting back at the present situation, Sylvester, a legal practitioner said that through a DNA test one could lose his paternity if it is proved that he is not the rightful child of his father.
However, in the controversial Will, the late Eze Ndigbo willed his estate and monies to former beauty queen, Bianca, and appointed her, the late Igwe of Oraukwu, Emeka Ojukwu and James Chukwuneme as trustees and executors of the documents.
Ikemba also clearly stated in his Will that only eight people should be regarded as his bonafide children.
The list of the chosen children includes, Teni Hamman, Emeka Ojukwu, Mmegha, Okigbo, Ebele, Chineme, Afam and Nwachukwu.
Although only one of Ojukwu’s children was present when the Will was read at the Enugu High Court on Friday, other share holders were urged by the court to apply for copies of the Will as well as the codicil, which was prepared by one Barrister Emeka Onyemelukwe on December 16, 2009.
DailyPost

Feeling Tired? Here Are 5 Foods You Can Eat To Regain Strength

A bowl of oats: The high dietary fiber content in oats helps you feel full longer, preventing overeating throughout the day, which can lead to weight gain, sluggishness, and fatigue.There’s more: oatmeal contains B1, the vitamin that is known to fight fatigue.
A handful of walnuts: if you’re feeling blue, munching on walnuts can boost your spirits. This wonder nut contains omega-3 fatty acids, which are known to fight symptoms of depression.
Whole wheat toast: the complex carbs in it give you the energy boost you need, without disturbing blood sugar levels.
Oranges: the Vitaminc C family can instantly inject freshness into your body and mind. That’s because this wonderful vitamin helps reduce cortisol—the hormone responsible for stress and energy slumps.
A cup of creamy yogurt: it’s simple. If your digestive system is out of gear, you’re going to feel whacked. That’s where yogurt comes in. The friendly bacteria in it do a fabulous job of regulating your digestion. The result: you have more energy, which lasts longer because yogurt has more protein than carbs. Try to get about 8 ounces of yogurt daily. You will feel relief from chronic fatigue within a week or so.
InformationNigeria.org

2015: Trust in Obasanjo, dangerous political investment –CPC

By Ajibola Abayomi and Onoja Audu

The Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) on Friday warned Nigerians and politicians to beware of the political antics of former President Olusegun Obasanjo towards the 2015 election, saying any trust placed on him would amount to dangerous political investment.
National Publicity Secretary of the party, Rotimi Fashakin, spoke during an exclusive interview with our correspondent while assessing the build up to the next general election.
“No matter what, the reported moves by Obasanjo to recruit some political soldiers in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to work against President Goodluck Jonathan as stated in the media does not bother us at all. It is a case of dog eating dog.
“What has Obasanjo got to offer after a wasteful eight years in power? That is their own civil war. They should fight it.
“I can tell you that anybody following Obasanjo on that path is embarking on a pointless journey. PDP is a failure. The CPC and our merger partners are going to rescue the nation. Just keep watching the development,” he said.
On the other hand, politicians from the Middle belt have urged the former president to put his weight behind the region in the next political dispensation.
Senator Venmark Dangin in an interview with Saturday Independent in Jos said he was aware that there are discussions and projections on the 2015 election.
“If former President Olusegun Obasanjo and his likes are sympathetic to the northern cause in 2015, they should give their support for the Middle Belt presidency since it is only the zone within the north that has not produced a civilian president.
“Looking at the situation as it is, the north should consider somebody from the Middle Belt as its candidate, if they refuse, it will become more difficult for people in North Central to feel a sense of belonging.
“Obasanjo should lend his support to a candidate nominated from the North Central to lead Nigeria in the next dispensation’’ he added.
Similarly, Executive Director of League for Human Rights, Barrister Nakin Bagudu, said that Middle Belt elite is seriously rooting for the presidency in 2015, saying the recent zonal constitutional review meeting held in Makurdi, the Benue state capital supported their agitation.
DailyIndependent

The 15 Footballers With ‘Another Life’ That You Should Know About

Some footballers don’t have the mental capacity to think of anything else apart from football. You can see the look in Wayne Rooney‘s eyes whilst he’s being interviewed or walking around Manchester in his casual hoodies that all that’s going on behind his pretty blue eyes is Football, Football, Football.
Other footballers, perhaps with a higher IQ than Rooney’s, have managed to venture past the world of football and moved on into other careers, much like how England cricket legend Freddie Flintoff has now begun the transition towards becoming a fully-fledged heavyweight boxer, license and all. It remains to be seen whether Flintoff will be a success, go down fighting, or simply get punched really hard in the face seconds into his first fight and realise it was all a terrible idea.
Here are some footballers who have had ulterior careers away from the football pitch, some successful, some unsuccessful, but many of them hilarious.
Roman Pavlyuchenko

Roman Pavlyuchenko

Former Tottenham striker Roman Pavlyuchenko also has a flourishing career in politics. In Russia he is a city council representative of Stavropol, and is a member of Vladimir Putin’s “United Russia” party.
Upon winning the seat in 2008, the Russian international told reporters: “Because of my profession it won’t be easy for me to take part directly in the workings of the city council – but I am ready to help with advice and with a concrete contribution to the development possibilities for exercise and sport.”
He probably won’t be leading a coup d’etat to take control of the Kremlin any time soon.
Geoff Horsfield
The powerful target man that is Geoff Horsfield, who played for the likes of Fulham, Birmingham and West Brom, didn’t have the easiest of careers, especially in the early years.
After failing to make it through the trails for hometown club Barnsley, the forward took up a college course in Bricklaying. Horsfield continued to work as a brickie while playing non-league football.
Rather heroically, he netted 30 in 40 during his second spell at Halifax town, clinching them promotion into the football league, and thus allowing the club to offer Horsfield a full-time contract so he could finally lay his trowel to rest and stop doing his back in whilst mixing cement.
Terry Venables
Terry Venables is well known for being a competent football manager, but off the pitch El Tel had a number of business interests. As well as becoming Managing Director of QPR and Chairman at Tottenham, he also owned a nightclub.
Unfortunately for the former England manager, he was banned from acting as a company director for seven years in 1998 after a case made by the Department of Trade and Industry proved instances of bribery, deception, manipulation of accounts and taking money owed to creditors.
Venables has also entered into the world of writing, and is the co-creator of ITV series “Hazell”, working with Gordon Williams to produce four novels based on the same character. In 1990, he also came up with the predecessor to football management computer games with a board game version of the same concept.
Robbie Fowler
Robbie Fowler is one of the richest footballers in the world and was named as one of the 1,000 wealthiest Britons in 2005. This was not due to of any particularly large wage offers made to him by Liverpool, Manchester City or Leeds during his playing days, but because he is also a well-known property mogul.
Fowler owns over 80 properties, in addition to other business interests, including several racehorses co-owned with former team-mate Steve McManaman and has a net worth valued at £28million.
Socrates
Socrates is known as one of Brazil’s most iconic players, but he also managed to become a Doctor of Medicine, studying for the degree while playing football.
Furthermore, the former Brazil international who unfortunately passed away this time last year, was also heavily involved in politics. He started the Corinthians Democracy movement and influenced several of his team-mates to help him protest against the military government that controlled Brazil at the time. He also contributed to several newspapers and magazines, writing articles on Sports as well as Politics and Economics.
Andy Cole
The Premier League’s second highest all-time goalscorer Andrew Cole once tried to replace hitting the back of the net for hits in the chart when he released his first and only single “Outstanding” in 1999, back when he was just Andy.
Of course, as you can imagine, it was not outstanding at all and failed to make it into the UK Top 40.
Despite popular belief, the song was not actually written by Cole, and was a cover of The Gap Band’s 1982 hit. The Gap Band reached number 1 in the US RnB charts, which only highlights how awful the former Manchester United striker’s version truly was.
Upon his transfer to Nottingham Forest in 2008, a small group of Forest fans attempted to get Cole’s flopped single re-released, not that the striker approved.
The former England man told the Nottingham Evening Post he was not interested in restarting his music career: “I was a great deal younger when I made Outstanding and I can categorically say it will represent my one and only attempt to make an impression in the world of music.”
Morten Gamst Pedersen
Have you ever wondered why Morten Gamst Pedersen always seems to have very snazzy, boybandish hair? Well it’s because the Blackburn Rovers man is actually in a boy band, known as “The Players”.
The Norwegian Pop outfit have only recorded one song, a charity single entitled This is for Real, as part of the Red Cross campaign Soccer against Crime.
There are five members of “The Players”, who are all footballers. The other four are Freddy Dos Santos, Raymond Kvisvik, Kristopher Haestad and Oyvind Svenning.
Pedersen is not the only footballer-come-singer set to appear in this list, but he is arguably the most successful. The single swept across Scandinavia, giving the midfielder a career to fall back on if it all goes wrong for him in the Championship.
Vinnie Jones

After retiring from the game, Vinnie got a job in acting, essentially being Vinnie Jones. The former Wimbledon, Chelsea and Leeds midfielder has featured in 66 films and TV shows according to IMDB, including a debut in Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, and a leading role in Mean Machine.
Jones has also appeared in WWE, back when it was WWF in 1998 as a Special Enforcer, taking on the Big Boss Man and subsequentially issuing him a Red Card. In 2007, Jones returned to the ring to tell Wrestling fans he had “kicked Stone Cold’s Arse” on the set of The Condemned – a film in which both hard men featured.
Aside from acting and wrestling (although they could be counted as the same thing), the former Wales international has also released a Blues and Soul album in 2002 with covers of classics such as “Bad Bad Leroy Brown”.
Something tells me there is a reason Vinnie hasn’t released another album since.
Theo Walcott

Theo Walcott

Unlike many other footballers who have gone on to release autobiographies, for example Wayne Rooney’s five year book deal in which his second publication “Wayne Rooney – My decade in the Premier League” sold just 6,000 copies in the first six weeks prior to its release, Theo Walcott has gone for a far subtler approach.
The Arsenal winger has released a series of children’s books based around the semi-fictional “T.J.”, a young school-boy taking the playground and school team by storm with his goal-scoring abilities.
The England international has now released four books; “T.J. and the Hat-trick”, “T.J. and the Penalty”, “T.J. and the Cup Run” and “T.J. and the winning goal”.
Some of the issues tackled in the books include T.J.’s best friend becoming overweight and being dropped by the school team’s coach due to a lack of fitness, former star player Tulsi considering quitting the school team after being left behind as the rest of the players progress as footballers, and a new teacher taking over as coach and imposing terrible tactics weeks before the semi-final in the youth cup.
Mat Mitchel-King
The AFC Wimbledon player has moonlighted as a model in the past, and was used as Rio Ferdinand’s body double while playing for Conference North side Histon.
Mitchel-King gave up his second career after being offered a professional contract by Crewe Alexandra. The defender and midfielder initially worked for Armani after being scouted walking down Oxford street.
“I thought I was going to be a millionaire in my first year, but it didn’t work out like that,” Mitchel-King told reporters upon signing for Crewe in 2009.
“I am Rio Ferdinand’s official body double, I think my rates are a bit cheaper than his,” he added.
Clint Dempsey

Dempsey

Tottenham forward Clint Dempsey is another footballer to dip into the world of music. Recording under the name Deuce, Dempsey is a part-time rapper, and teams up with fellow Texan hip-hoppers XO and Big Hawk to form the “Screwed Up Click”. The rap group featured on the track “Don’t Tread”, used by Nike in an american advertising campaign for the 2006 World Cup.
There’s every chance the USA international could be returning to the mic as his Tottenham career has suffered a somewhat false start.
David Ginola

David Ginola’s post-football career is largely unsurprising. What else would a suave, wealthy and incredibly French Frenchman do apart from becoming a Winemaker.
The former Newcastle and Tottenham midfielder even won a silver medal at the 2008 International Wine Challenge for a Rose produced at his vineyard in Provence.
Anthony Lapaglia
Better known for his acting than his footballing, Anthony Lapaglia is a major US Television actor and has starred in Without a Trace, Frasier, and Murder One, as well as doing voice work for Happy Feet and Happy Feet Two.
But what is less known about the Aussie actor is he was once a goalkeeper for Adelaide City and West Adelaide in the 1980s.
Lapaglia is now part-owner of Sydney FC, and is Club President of Hollywood United, an amateur team made of former footballers living in Hollywood including Vinnie Jones and Frank Leboeuf, accompanied by lesser footballing talents Steve Jones from the Sex Pistols, actor Jason Statham and film director Danny Cannon.
Eric Cantona

Eric Cantona

Eric Cantona is a Manchester United and Premier League legend, but following his early retirement from football in 1997, Cantona threw himself into the film industry. Cantona has now appeared in 21 movies, although initially only appearing as a footballer in films such as “Eleven men against Eleven”, which he was not credited for.
After a few years however, The King’s career really took off as he starred in Looking For Eric, in which Cantona plays himself and is a central character in the off-beat comedy. He also features in the interestingly titled 2012 French film “Porn in the hood”.
Aside from film, the former United forward also has an interest in politics and tried to stage a social revolution by telling customers from high-street banks to withdraw their funds in protest to the Global banking crisis in 2010.
Gica Popescu

Gica Popescu is a former Barcelona captain, and played for Tottenham, PSV and Galatasaray. But as well as being a top-level footballer, the defender was also a part time spy in his native Romania.
In his early career, Popescu was approached by the Securitate and was expected to supply the Romanian secret police with information based on Universitatea Craiova’s runs in the UEFA cup, and also grass up any team-mates who could become defectors.
What remains to be discovered is whether Popescu’s loan to Steaua Bucuresti, the Romanian Army’s football team, in 1988, was a direct attempt by the Securitate to ignite an implosion of the club and the armed forces as part of the ongoing struggle for power on the Romanian political scene.
InformationNigeria.org