TB Joshua on Eagles' Victory: "I Saw It Coming"

The victory of Nigeria's Super Eagles over the Stallions of Burkina Faso at the final of the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations in South Africa yesterday did not come as a surprise to the General Overseer of The Synagogue Church Of All Nations, Prophet Temitope Balogun Joshua, who had on Thursday last week predicted that Stephen Keshi and his team would defeat their opponents to lift the Africa Cup.

Sunday Mba's brilliant winner ended Nigeria's 19-year wait for the Africa Nations Cup title. Mba flicked the ball over Mohamed Koffi of Burkina Faso before volleying home five minutes before the break.
Before the crucial final, T.B. Joshua said that though the match would be tough, the Eagles would win - and they indeed defeated Burkina Faso to win the coveted trophy Sunday night in Johannesburg, South Africa.
Speaking shortly after the match last night, T.B.Joshua noted that the Nigerian team won the match as he predicted.
"I told you that the Eagles' case was like the biblical Jacob who wrestled with God, saying that unless God blessed him he will not let Him go. I saw the victory coming," he said.
Prophet Joshua had churned out a lot of football prophecies that came to pass. He predicted that the Satellites of Ghana would win the 2009 World Youth Championship, WYC, that was hosted by Egypt. He also predicted the outcome of the matches between Ghana and Nigeria at the Nations Cup in 2008. Another preidction was Nigeria’s loss to Tunisia in the 2004 Nations Cup in the semi final. In the qualifying matches to the South Africa 2010 World Cup, he predicted that Coach Shuaibu Amodu would qualify Nigeria for the Mundial and it came to pass.
Even at the just concluded 29th edition of the Nations Cup in South Africa, the Prophet told the Super Eagles that they were going to concede a late minute equaliser against the Stallions of Burkina Faso in their Group C opener, which came to pass.
He was also able to predict correctly the outcome of the second semi-final clash between Burkina Faso and the Black Stars of Ghana, which saw Burkina Faso, beating Ghana through penalties.
His two predictions will live to haunt the Elephants of Ivory Coast for a very longtime as he once told them that they were going to reach the final of the 2012 edition of the Nations Cup in Gabon and Equatorial Guinea, but they would lose the trophy to the Chipolopolo of Zambia.
The second prediction that jolted Didier Drogba-inspired Ivory Coast was that the Eagles would send them packing from the South Africa 2013 Nations Cup which came to pass when they lost 1-2 to the Nigerian team.
Naij

APC, A Pill Nigerians Must Swallow

By Lauretta Onochie
Many years ago, before the advent of Paracetamol, APC was the medicine for headache, stomachache and indeed, all aches and pains. Today Nigeria has a headache, a bellyache and all known and unknown aches a d pains. The good news is that we know the cause of most of these aches. Diagnosis? Corruption and the poor leadership of the PDP! But it looks like the good old tablet, APC is back in Nigeria; not in chemists and pharmacies, but as a political conglomeration that promises to heal Nigeria of many of her aches and pains, commonly known as PDP wahala. It is the ALL PROGRESSIVES CONGRESS (APC).
Hear them, "We resolve to form a political party committed to the principles of internal democracy, focused on serious issues of concern to OUR PEOPLE, determined to bring corruption and insecurity to an end, determined to grow our economy and create jobs in their millions through education, housing, agriculture, industrial growth etc, and stop the increasing mood of despair and hopelessness among OUR PEOPLE.” In one short sentence, they used 'Our people' twice... Yet, Nigerians are sceptical about APC and their real intentions.
Nigeria is a nation where different groups of people in leadership have come to promise us heaven on earth, only to turn around to confine us to hell by impoverishing us the more. The present reality is the Peoples Democratic Party PDP. These people, since 1999, have made millionaires out of their immediate families and friends. That has also changed. They began to make billionaires out of their cronies and now, we are at a stage where many suspect that there might be more Dollars in Nigeria than in America as they continue to make 'Dollarnaires' out of their close associates.
Nigerians have met disappointments at every turn of their recent political history. Where we have been promised bread, we got stones and where we were promised soup, sludge was forced down our throats. Its all too recent and still raw as we all are now choking from air pollution, not only from the fumes from our electric-generating sets but from the corrosive materials in the breathe of fresh air we were promised by the current ruling party and its arrowhead of corruption, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan.
We, as a people have come to the stage where we lost all hopes in our leaders and consequently, in our nation. They have cheated us out of our national inheritance. They have run down our national infrastructures and left them in their dilapidated states. Examples are our roads and hospitals. They have, through their greed reduced our life expectancies to 47 and 45 respectively for men and women. They have made us look small among the comity of nations. We have become a people who are no longer warmly welcomed to other nations. Close to home, some African nations have been brave to voice the fact that we are bad news. Our leaders have become the butt of jokes as they go around the globe parading ignorance.
The Nigerian print and electronic media mostly became instruments of misinformation for peddling lies, innuendoes, gossips and propaganda in favour of those who use our collective wealth to suppress the truth. And then the Social Media emerged! Subdued Nigerians found a live wire. Many began joining the social network such as Twitter and Facebook. Some went in with their body, soul and spirit. Others went in slowly and cautiously. And then, it exploded! Nigerians threw caution to the wind, taking the bull by the horn. They went for the jugular, chocking the day light out of the present inept, corrupt and clueless government of President Jonathan. Nigerians on the Social media used it to their maximum benefit, exposing the corruption, ineptitude, incompetence and the waste that were and are still the hallmark of this sick government.
But this government, this sick government of President Jonathan still refuses medication. It struggles on, refusing to see that the people they asked to serve needed to be served. This sick government that refused to take all prescribed medications devised means of avoiding contact with Nigerians for fear of being lynched by angry Nigerians. Private jets became the new means of mass transit for our corrupt leaders and their friends, along with their religious associates. Nigeria's Independent celebration events which we looked forward to as children in Nigeria, became a private affair. Children in our nation have not been given the opportunity, even on children's day to interact with the man who decides on their behalf.
The new found confidence of Nigerians, armed with the deluge of authenticated data on the corrupt activities of the present administration of President Jonathan, gave wings to the courageous showings of the #OccupyNigeria Movement a year ago. That became the first arrow shot in recent times by the Nigerian people at their ignoble leaders to put them on notice that it would no longer be business as usual. A lot more corruption has been unearthed and exposed since then and all we hear from them are denials, denials and more denials. The complicity of our National assembly is not in doubt neither is the collusion of our judiciary. It is common knowledge that people, (yes they are Nigerians), are eager to keep the Boko Haram crises going because of the huge gains from the unaccountable security votes for that region. "Vampires" I call them. Those who flourish and bask in the blood of others are called vampires.
Nigerians, ordinary Nigerians are therefore left to their own devices as unemployment soars. Lynching popularly known as jungle-justice and mass raping have become popular in a nation that has lost her morals and community spirit. Campus prostitution, armed robbery, kidnapping, human-trafficking fraud and scamming etc are now ways of earning a living in a nation blessed with huge natural a d human resources.
Therefore, I must say that I clearly understand the apathy, suspicion, scepticism and distrust with which some of us view APC, the soup-pot or what some of us call a collection of strange bed-fellows. After all, some of these apothecaries who prepared this APC, have been in the forefront of the Nigerian politics for decades and have not been part of the solution, to say the least. However, we must look beyond the people who are the principal players in APC now. If one was drowning, and someone threw him a life line, he would grab it and ask questions later about the identity of the life saver. Our nation is sinking. We have no time to dilly-dally. Our problem had been that we did not have a united opposition in our nation that was proactive. Now we do. One has presented itself.
A party like this APC is what many of us have been campaigning for. There is no way we are going to have an opposition that is led by people we do not know. Nigerians and indeed the world, are predisposed to starting from the known to the unknown. Many people may not know how tediously many of our well meaning youth have worked to build a solid opposition, but were not taken seriously because they are not known. This is a chance Nigerians must take with both hands and firmly plant their feet on. APC is made up of the known at the present but unless we all join at this its inception, the unknown would remain in the background.
I therefore, appeal to Nigerians, especially our youth population, to join, no, to invade this APC. Its only when we are in that we can have a say from the beginning and make the necessary changes like standing against god-fatherism, mediocrity, tribalism, nepotism and other vices. Once we allow them become a cabal, we would have ourselves to blame.
Nigeria was standing between the devil and the deep blue sea and suddenly, a ship appears out of the deep blue sea. This may be our last chance to recover our nation by ourselves through democratic means. It is not going to be easy-sailing but we are the ones that must make the difference. When the known leaders begin to show self interests, we the unknown Nigerians in APC would be the ones to keep them in check and insist on what we want for our nation or push then aside. Nigerians must arise and hijack this party for their benefit. With PDP, we are outsiders. We don't want to be outsiders with APC too.
Suddenly, there is a light at the end of the tunnel.

via: facebook

Native Doctor Caught In Ghana’s Camp

The subject of ‘juju’ seems not to be far away from the Black Stars camp anytime they come crushing out of major tournaments ala the AFCON 2012 in Gabon and Equatorial Guinea, where then Ghana Coach, Goran Stevanovic ‘Plavi’ came out to confirm the use of ‘black magic’ by some of his charges in camp.
This time though in South Africa, it seems the ‘culprit’ was outside who managed to sneak past security to the Ghana dressing room and was on the verge of sprinkling the concoction to do the ‘damage’ when he was allegedly caught and handed over to Tony Baffoe.
Speaking on the issue, Black Stars team manager, Sabahn Quaye, who himself is no shrinking violet when it comes to matters of that nature says he believes the yet to be identified person cast a spell on the Ghana team, leading to the loss against the Burkina Faso during the semi final clash.
Former Hearts of Oak stalwart, Sabahn says he believes in the existence of juju so as he put it, “anything could have happened.”

He says investigations are ongoing but he will do his possible best to get to the bottom of the matter.
“My friend, I have been in football for so many years so such things cannot be swept under the carpet. How that intruder managed to breach past security to get into our dressing room is a mystery. I will contact Tony Baffoe myself to sort things out,” he said.
That is the mindset we dealing with people…we are doomed simple and short short
InformationNigeria

Third Mainland Bridge is safe, says govt

by: Miriam Ekene-Okoro and Okwy Iroegbu-Chikezie 

THE Federal Government has allayed fears of imminent collapse of the Third Mainland Bridge.
Describing the bridge as “safe”, it said an assessment would soon be conducted to determine the “extent of maintenance work the road requires”.
The Senate has given its Committee on Works two weeks to investigate how safe the bridge is.
Senator Gbenga Ashafa, representing Lagos East, who raised the alarm over the bridge at plenary last week, told reporters in Lagos yesterday that the probe would ascertain the veracity of his claim.
He dismissed insinuations he raised a false alarm.
Ashafa said: “How can someone say the issue is political? Nigerians across all ethnic groups ply that bridge on a daily basis. About 70, 000 vehicles use the bridge daily; a disaster on it will affect all of us.
“Just like the Dana Crash where some people came after the crash to say that they had complained about the plane and nothing was done, we don’t want medicine after death. This is about the safety of Nigerians”.
Ashafa said Prof JHT Kim, Head of Concrete Structural Engineering Laboratory, Yousei University, Seoul, Korea, came in December 2012 to conduct an underwater examination of the structures holding the bridge and reported that the damages to the structure were worse than what he was briefed about.
He said the repairs embarked upon during the last quarter of last year by the Ministry of Works were mere window dressing on the expansion joints.
Dismissing fear, that the bridge may collapse soon, the Director of Highways Design (Bridges), Federal Ministry of Works, Aniete Effiong said: “The Ministry has taken proactive steps in line with its mandate to ensure that the Third Mainland Bridge is protected and kept in an acceptable service state.
“Following reports of oscillation and excessive vibrations of the bridge under traffic load, the Federal Ministry of Works in 2008 engaged the services of Messrs JBN Plc. to conduct preliminary investigations of the structure and later Dynamic tests were carried out by Messrs 4EMME, an internationally acclaimed Bridge Engineering Consulting firm. He stressed that the reports of the investigations and tests at the time indicated that the bridge was structurally adequate but required the replacement of bad expansion joints and bearings which Messrs Borini Prono & Co. Nigeria Ltd., has just done.”
“To safeguard the integrity of the bridge, the ministry has commenced the process of engaging a consultant to urgently carry out investigation/assessment on the entire bridge substructure so as to determine the extent of maintenance work required”, he said, adding that the bridge is safe.
TheNation

“I did what I feel is right” – Keshi speaks on his resignation

By Phillip Eta

A few hours ago, we published a developing story, which suggested that Stephen Keshi, may have resigned from his post as coach of the Nigerian national team, less than 24 hours after he led them to gold in the Africa Cup of Nations.
Keshi’s future had become subject of speculation during the tournament, and former Media Officer of the Super Eagles, Idah Peterside, claimed the sports authorities had booked return tickets, expecting Cote d’Ivoire to dump the Eagles out.

However, against all odds, the Big Boss led the team to the final and won the competition. In an interview with Robert Marawa on South Africa radio station, Metro FM, he confirmed he sent in his resignation after the celebrations.
“I did what I feel is right by resigning,” he told Marawa.
“I gave the NFF a letter last night [Sunday] after the celebrations.”
The former coach of Mali and Togo, made 51 appearances for Nigeria as a player.
DailyPost

Osama Bin Laden’s Shooter Finally Breaks Silence

The member of the U.S. Navy SEALS (Sea, Air, Land Teams) who killed Osama Bin Laden in the 2011 nighttime raid on the Al Qaeda leader’s compound in Abbottabad has finally broken his silence. Recently, men’s magazine Esquire wrote about the guy — who’s remaining anonymous — and his attempts to form a post-Osama life. With no assistance from the Navy or the government, he’s been left with no insurance, no job, and no security. But he’s got a lot of good stories.
The SEAL officer — who is calls throughout the story, more than a little melodramatically, The Shooter — left the Navy last September, retiring after 16 years. That’s four shy of the full 20, which means no transitional health insurance and no pension. And with no desire to become a security contractor, few job prospects. The last job help the Navy offered him was a witness protection-like setup: he’d become a beer-truck driver in Milwaukee, under an assumed identity, and he and his family would have to give up any contact with their former lives.
“The Shooter” has no desire to go public about who he is, for security reasons as much as anything. His wife and kids have been taught home-defense tactics that edge into paranoia, and are considering transferring all titles and bill to her name, to sever his paper connection to the family. Which means he’s like almost any other veteran finding inadequate institutional support during a difficult transition into civilian life: depressingly common.

But, okay. If nothing else, he’s got stories. He’s not unpoetic when it comes to the assassination itself.
“And I remember as I watched him breathe out the last part of air, I thought: ‘Is this the best thing I’ve ever done, or the worst thing I’ve ever done? This is real and that’s him’.
“Everybody wanted him dead, but nobody wanted to say, ‘Hey, you’re going to kill this guy’. It was just sort of understood that’s what we wanted to do.”
InformationNigeria

Uzoma Ahamefule: Send Lawan And Odetola To Prison Now, Enough Is Enough

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By Uzoma Ahamefule

“When I compare how Austria where I live tries very hard to save the lives of animals not to talk of human beings, I feel so deeply sad and suffer acute aching coming to the ugly reality that lives are not valued in Nigeria in view of the manner and the number of deaths that occur in that country everyday.”

Nigeria is a very interesting country that is blessed with natural endowments. It is very rich in culture and supposedly tourism. It is the most populated country in Africa with an estimated population of over 160 million people and more than 350 local languages. It is the richest oil producing country in Africa, 7th in the world and 5th highest supplier to the US. It is diverse in religion with Christians and Muslims in dominance. It is a heterogeneous country that has always been finding it extremely difficult to appreciate its ethnic diversities. It is a country that fought a civil war from 1967 to 1970, but has, however, irrespective of its tribulations managed since its amalgamation in 1914 by Lord Lugard to stay together as one country, one people, one nation.
Because of its richness in natural and human resources and position, it is seen as the giant of Africa. But the Nigerian Senate President, Senator David Mark, thinks contrarily, while reacting on the issue of the maltreatment of Nigerians in foreign lands and castigating the shabby roles of Nigerian mission staff on the floor of the senate, he said, “We should have our missions well-funded. We say we are the giant of Africa but if you can’t fund missions, you are not.”

“Knowing that the Minister of Petroleum Resources was at one time directly under former president, Olusegun Obasanjo, for a long time, then I ask; did EFCC ever fight corruption in this country?”

Nigeria is supposedly the hope to redeem Africa from economic imperialism as the world globalises and gives the continent its voice in the market world. But sadly Nigeria is dangerously nosediving. Disgracefully and undoubtedly, Nigerian politicians are the brain behind these national disasters and slides that have made many Nigerians to angrily and ignorantly question the existence of God. Without shame and consideration, the political leaders of Nigeria embarrassingly have formed gangs and turned what was supposed to have been a blessing to Nigerians and Africans (crude oil) to a source of sorrow and a curse that has impoverished many innocent Nigerian masses to an anguished death.
The probe or findings in the Nigerian National Petroleum Cooperation (NNPC) and the drama, accusations and counter accusations by millionaire, Femi Odetola and Honourable Farouk Lawan are not only a shame and shocking but have gone further to reveal that Nigerian top leaders past and present have all at various degrees committed heinous crimes against Nigerians and humanity in one way or the other. Knowing that the Minister of Petroleum Resources was at one time directly under former president, Olusegun Obasanjo, for a long time, then I ask; did EFCC ever fight corruption in this country?

“The person that gave bribe and the person that took bribe have all committed crimes before the eyes of the Nigerian law. Why is only Farouk Lawan in detention now? Where is Femi Odetola?”

Femi Odetola claimed that he had given the ad-hoc committee chairman on fuel subsidy Hon. Farouk Lawan $620,000 bribe in order to remove the name of his company from the indicted companies and the chairman denied that such never had taken place and called it a blatant lie. But Hon. Farouk Lawan forgot that Femi Odetola was equally a smart man as evidence later showed because their secret illegal transaction had been recorded without his knowledge which was later made public. Again the honourable denied the video evidence claiming that his image had been doctored. Alas! After much pressure, Hon. Farouk Lawan swallowed his words and then admitted that he had taken money from Femi Odetola but not bribe and had only taken that in an evidence to nail him at the appropriate time. Incredible!
The person that gave bribe and the person that took bribe have all committed crimes before the eyes of the Nigerian law. Why is only Hon. Farouk Lawan in detention now? Where is Femi Odetola? What are the agents of the government waiting for? But if it is true that he worked with the security agents in bribing Hon. Farouk Lawn with marked money, then excuse me.
In Austria, the former interior minister Ernst Strasser was sentenced on 14th January 2013 to four years imprisonment for corruption having agreed to accept a bribe from British reporters who tried to check the conscience of those representing their countries in the EU parliament. Even though he has appealed against the judgement, his conviction showed the stuff Austria is made of.
In the shame of this brouhaha, Nigerians are scared that this committee and its recommendations might not be different from other past committees in Nigeria that never saw the light of the day. Irrespective of the current detention of Farouk Lawal, the tune of the music is changing and everything seems arranged to set him and Femi Odetola free like the way they discharged and acquitted London prisoner, Chief James Ibori, but only turned around after his conviction and arrested a man they accused to be his accomplice in defrauding Delta State. I weep for this country!

“A couple that is praying for the fruits of the womb cannot have any if they are living pools away from each other without any intimate contact, no matter how many years they fast and pray because they are not Mary and Joseph.”

Please can somebody tell the agents of the government that before they can prosecute anybody for helping Ibori to perpetuate the pains of Delta indigenes in any form that they must first of all find Chief James Ibori guilty in Nigeria and convict him, otherwise, using his London conviction is a mock on Nigeria and a doubt on the crusade against corruption? Somebody should also tell the government that any process they take now in trying to convict Chief James Ibori will not be taken very serious by many unless they first scrutinise the jugde/s and the processes that led into discharging and acquitting him in the first place against all glaring evidences.
Hon. Farouk Lawan told us that big names in Nigeria had been the cabals holding Nigeria down all these years, but that was not worth a headline. But what will be a big news will be the day he will be sent to prison without option of fine and the world will read headlines from Nigerian newspapers that may go like: “Hon. Farouk Lawan Jailed 10 years”, “Hon. Farouk Lawan Found Guilty, His Legs To Be Chopped Off According To Sharia Law”, or people like him with political connections giving prison numbers by warders because prison and Sharia Law are not meant only for those poor Nigerians that steal goats and yams out of hunger.
However, I can only appeal to President Goodluck Jonathan‘s led federal government as a patriotic concerned citizen to please help Nigerians by making sure that the recommendations of that committee are not only made public but critically looked into. While those accused culprits figured by the committee and the companies made to face the law accordingly, the government and Nigerian citizens should be very careful with the lies and deceptions they will come up with because they will fight back and may not go down easily.

“The first step to conquer evil is to conquer fear. Consequently, come out Nigerians, and fear no devil. Come out Nigerians from your shells and stop dying in self-pity, for your destiny is in your hands.”

Even in the face of this Armageddon and sorrow Nigerians seem still very hopeful with their prayers that God will take control. Yes of course, our God is able and I believe strongly in prayers. But do we also expect prayers do the physical things? We must be joking! We asked God to help us and He has answered our prayers by revealing to us what we did not know that has been going on since the discovery of oil in Nigeria, and instead of acting on it, we are still kneeling down again crying and praying for God to come down from heaven and do the physical work for us (by allowing politicians that are supposed to be in prison to lead us). A couple that is praying for the fruits of the womb cannot have any if they are living pools away from each other without any intimate contact, no matter how many years they fast and pray because they are not Mary and Joseph. That could perhaps be the best way to describe Nigerians’ mindset towards some Nigerian political thieves and the reality of judgement. Therefore, sorry Nigerians, we are not David and God does not answer stupid, doubtful or lazy prayers for food because faith alone does not move mountains until one acts.
It is time to stand up Nigerians, and say enough is enough because our merciless politicians and contractors have taken us for a ride for too long. The first step to conquer evil is to conquer fear. Consequently, come out Nigerians, and fear no devil. Come out Nigerians from your shells and stop dying in self-pity, for your destiny is in your hands. It is aching to the marrow to see that a country like Nigeria has got no regular electricity supply with most rural areas in total blackout and without any hope at sight as when such cruel denial of one’s fundamental rights of enjoying electricity will stop. But the politicians are stealing billions on daily basis and powering their houses with silent generators. The pain is no more bearable that we do not have good roads and drinkable water but yet we sell millions of barrel of crude oil everyday. It is so sad to see that Nigerian schools have deteriorated to the level that the pupils/students are now so scared that the walls of their buildings could collapse on them anytime while some of our primary school pupils stay under trees as their class rooms but yet we hope to produce those that could challenge the best in the world.
It is annoying to see fake drugs imported from countries like India, China or Indonesia to Nigeria certified and cleared by Nigerian corrupt custom officers for use in Nigerian hospitals.

“There is no iota of justification for this Nigerian state today. I have many times pondered why but never found any reason except greed, corruption and insincerity.”

It is uncomprehending that thousands of Nigerian medical students graduate from Nigerian universities every year as qualified medical doctors, but embarrassingly Nigerian political leaders still fly abroad for medical treatments each time they are sick even when they have ordinary flu. These actions have raised many questions on the capabilities of our medical doctors. However, the agonizing truth is that Nigerian medical practitioners are as good as their European counterparts where most Nigerian politicians fly to, but the problem rather is that, Nigerian hospitals are without the right drugs and equipments, and it is so because many Nigerian looting politicians have continued over the years without mercy to corruptly destroy whatever system and standard that was left behind by the unwanted colonial masters and without any plan of re-building just to stuff enough money somewhere for their children and great-grandchildren.
There is no iota of justification for this Nigerian state today. I have many times pondered why but never found any reason except greed, corruption and insincerity. Many times I spoke to myself about these issues like someone insane, while in most cases I stared on the sky in silence but asked in my heart if God was still there and most times my tears never stopped to fail me in anguish. When I compare how Austria where I live tries very hard to save the lives of animals not to talk of human beings, I feel so deeply sad and suffer acute aching coming to the ugly reality that lives are not valued in Nigeria in view of the manner and the number of deaths that occur in that country everyday.
It is a shame to see Nigerian politicians send their children abroad for studies because they have turned some of our innocent Nigerian youths into hoodlums under campus secret cults and have used them as their political murderers.
The state of abuse and humiliation of ordinary Nigerians is something no Nigerian can claim ignorant of and we can no longer swallow that anymore because there is limitation to human endurance.Prosecute not only Hon. Farouk Lawan but Femi Odetola if he did not work together with the security agents in this fairy tale and their minds alike and send them to prison now. Enough is enough.
Arise Nigerians!

News+Rescue