Bookmakers Favour Cardinal Arinze Of Nigeria To Emerge As Next Pope

Francis Arinze of Nigeria, Peter Turkson of Ghana and Marc Ouellet of Canada have been hotly tipped as favourites by bookmakers on Monday to take over from Pope Benedict XVI who announced his resignation earlier today.
William Hill bookmakers named 80-year-old Arinze as their favourite to replace the pontiff following Monday’s shock announcement of the pontiff’s resignation with odds of 2-1, followed by Turkson at 5-2.
Coral also tipped Arinze as the likeliest successor with odds of 7-4, followed by Turkson at 2-1 and Ouellet in third place at 5-1.
The bookmaker also offered odds of 8-1 on Archbishop Angelo Scola of Italy and 10-1 on Cardinal Oscar Rodriguez Maradiaga of Honduras.
Irish bookmaker Paddy Power named Ouellet as the favourite with odds of 5-2, followed by Arinze at 3-1 and Turkson at 4-1.

During the 2005 conclave of the Vatican’s College of Cardinals that elected Benedict, Arinze was considered “papabile,” or a potential successor to the late John Paul II.
A quarter of the cardinals that can elect a new pope are Italian. The last non-Italian pope before Benedict, who is German, and his Polish predecessor John Paul II was Adrian VI, who died in 1523.
Arinze and Turkson, the head of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace who is considered a progressive candidate, are among 18 Africans in the Vatican’s College of Cardinals.
InformationNigeria

“The lesson from the Super Eagles’ class of 2013” Which Nigeria Must Learn – ACN

In an interesting twist to the victory of the Super Eagles at the just concluded AFCON, the Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN has opined that if only the country can emulate the national team by fielding only the best individuals in all areas of her national life the country will be better for it.
Congratulating the Super Eagles for winning the Africa Cup of Nations for the first time in 19 years, the ACN said the victory shows what Nigeria can achieve when it allows talent, rather than mediocrity, to lead the way. A statement issued in Lagos on Monday by the ACN’s National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, said the Eagles’ victory shows that transformation does not necessarily have to be an endless quest.
The statement reads in part: “The Super Eagles, who were not among the pre-tournament favourites, won because the coach assembled his team based on talent rather than any extraneous considerations, and also because the team and its technical
crew believe that when there is determination and self-belief, no mountain can be high enough.

“If Nigeria will always field its best eleven in all human endeavours, be it sports, economy or politics, and also allows a visionary rather than a waffling dreamer to lead the team, the country will always be a world beater. That is the lesson from the Super Eagles’ class of 2013,” the party said.
InformationNigeria

I'm Pregnant For My Pastor, What Should I Do? - UK Based Nigerian Girl Needs Advice

Am based in the United Kingdom and a member of the Redeemed Christian Church of God here in the UK. I am a 25-year-old Nigerian girl.
I have lived in the UK for over five years, running into my 6th year already. However, as it is generally held, “life is not always smooth and straight” I understand that life, most of the time is full of ‘zig and zag’ just like it’s characterized with ups and downs. My story is not different after all. I have had my good times too, and I consider this time as my most trying moment.

I am writing this note, not exactly because I regret my action of taking full control of a married Pastor, but because I have sensed something that is really not going to work for me in the most positive way, if I keep this pregnancy. I don’t regret my action because I understand that pastors too are human beings, and have the same feelings like the rest of us. He slept with me, got me impregnated; so what?

However, a little of the background will give you an insight into how it all started. I understand that as human beings, we cannot cheat nature. I’m one of the Choristers in the church, and there is this magnet that pulls the pastor and I together. It is like a magnetic force. However, he had explained to me in the most pathetic way one day on how the wife had starved him of séx for months all in the name of spirituality. He only said that passively anyway. He also complained bitterly, while I listened with superlative attention on how the wife hardly ever satisfy him on bed. I actually wanted to satisfy him, as I’m such an emotional and considerate person. I am very sure God won’t judge me negatively because of my kind gesture. I only tried to satisfy a man who was dying of hunger, he was been starved of séx and I had to leave spirituality behind to get him satisfied.

I remember how it all started, and like a Hollywood movie, the scenes reeled from one to the other and we had our fun in different hotels after every church meeting. I must always wait for the Pastor who will convey me to my house. After all, he is a pastor, and no one would suspect that any ‘dirty’ romance was going on between us. He confessed that I had made him feel like a man, and I was just proud of myself. I will always node in exhilaration knowing very well that if I can satisfy another man, then I can satisfy my man. This is something every young lady should be proud of. I am not trying to patronize my action, but only being reasonable about some sensitive séxual matters.

Yes, we did, and since then, I have been excommunicated from the church. In fact, the whole thing remained secret until he got me impregnated, and I confronted him for an abortion. To my consternation, he refuted my suggestion; he wanted me to keep the baby. I had moved against it. I had given him reasons why I shouldn’t keep the baby. I don’t want to jeopardize my dream of getting married at the age of 26 which is just less than a year. I told him that I must get rid of the baby. But he has vowed to sue me if I do. He is happy that at least what he had waited for endlessly since he got married in 2000 has come to fruition as God has finally opened the doors through me. Yes, he never had a child since he got married, and age is really not on his side. I can’t get his words off my head; “ I want this baby like yesterday” he said.

This disagreement has put me in the public glare today as my close friends whom I divulged the situation to, had reported the matter to the church committee, and I have since been excommunicated. Everybody talks about me as if I have done something so strange. My concern really is not about what people are saying but to get a little piece of your advice on whether I should keep the baby against my wish, or go for an abortion. I know what I want but I still need your advice in order to justify the action I’m about to take. In the next five days, I should be able to take a major decision. Thank you for publishing my story.
 TalkOfNaija

AFCON 2013: Retired Banker Dies While Watching Nigeria/Burkina Faso Match

A retired banker, Felix Bassey, 65, died, Sunday, while watching the finals of the just-concluded Africa Cup of Nation (AFCON) game at which Nigeria defeated Burkina Faso.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) gathered from a reliable source at The Eko Hospital, Ikeja, that the deceased was believed to have died of a heart-related ailment while watching the match at his residence in Akute area of Lagos.
Bassey, slumped during the match and was rushed to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead by doctors on duty.
The source, who pleaded anonymity, told NAN that a member of the family confirmed that late Bassey had been hypertensive, prior to his death.

“The wife, one of the matrons in the hospital, happened to be on night duty when Bassey was rushed to the hospital,’’ it said.
Meanwhile, the remains of late Bassey had since been deposited at the hospital morgue.
InformationNigeria

UFO Somehow Manages To Kidnap Another Man Who Won’t Shut Up About It

An unidentified flying object (UFO) managed once again to kidnap a man from a small town in New Mexico who, upon his return to Earth, just would not shut up about what happened to him, local media reports.
The official police report states that a 42-year-old farmer named Jason Mayers disembarked an alien spacecraft, and after safely returning home, immediately began screaming, yelling, and generally bothering random citizens of El Rancho whom he forced to listen to his story with such feverish intensity that he was fined later this afternoon for creating a public disturbance.
“Why do these UFOs always kidnap people who won’t shut up about it?” David Brandon, sheriff of El Rancho, asked a team of local reporters. “It’s always the same thing. Every time this sort of thing happens, we always end up having to deal with some nut who keeps on yelling for days about how he was beamed up onto a spaceship full of little green beings or some kind of nonsense like that. Why won’t they just stay mute and traumatized?” the sheriff added.
Sheriff Brandon also told journalists that if he was ever anally probed by creatures from another galaxy that he wouldn’t go around telling the media and everybody in town about it. As the sheriff said, “I would keep stuff like that to myself.” In an exclusive interview, Mr. Meyers told local reporters that at first he was amazed to see a glowing unidentified flying object hovering above his rural home in the night sky, but that then he started to think that maybe he was just losing his mind.
After a detailed investigation of the site where the victim was allegedly abducted, an official CIA report concluded that “the subject was clearly way too drunk, saw a firebug, tripped on a loose step, and managed to get something stuck in his behind.”
Naij.com

Presidency Probes Ministers, MDAs Over Alleged N63bn Budget Padding

Abuja — Fear has gripped ministers and permanent secretaries following revelations that many of them aided and abetted members of the National Assembly to inflate the final figure of the 2013 budget from the original N4.25 trillion submitted by President Goodluck Jonathan to N4.98 trillion.

Some ministers, it has been learnt, are in trouble because they, in collaboration with permanent secretaries went behind the President to approve some 'spurious' projects to be included in the controversial 2013 budget after Jonathan had already sent in the proposal to the National Assembly.
A competent source disclosed that the President was very upset with the practice whereby lawmakers connive with top public officers in the Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) and introduce extraneous items into the yearly budget thereby making it impossible for them to be fully implemented.
The source, who did not want to be quoted because he was not authorised to speak on the matter, noted that the President had already ordered a thorough investigation into how the additional N63 billion was added to the 2013 budget and to identify the ministers and MDAs involved for necessary sanctions.
The source maintained that although the President does not need to do anything against lawmakers apart from returning the budget to them, the ministers and other public officials, found to have supported the padding of the budget would not go scot-free.
"Some of you are quick to say that the President is not doing anything but you can see that he really means well for this country by taking necessary steps to ensure early preparation and passage of the 2013 budget only to be unduly delayed by some pecuniary-conscious people.
"The President wants to know those behind the action and punish them so that the unpatriotic action would be brought to an end," the source hinted.
It was learnt that a female minister, who had ignored the advice of her top officials and cooperated with two committees of the National Assembly, which have oversight over the ministry, to add more projects than what had been approved by the Presidency, is now jittery that she could be dropped by the President, who is said to be planning a reshuffle.
The said minister was reportedly trying desperately to reach out to some influential presidential aides and National Assembly leadership to see how she could be bailed out of the looming crisis.
In the absence of a concrete assurance from those she met, the woman is said to have gone back to prepare a 'solid defence' to present to the President, justifying why she gave in after being pressurised by the two committees of the National Assembly to select more capital projects to be included in the budget.
Last Thursday, chairmen and deputy chairmen of committees in the National Assembly met for hours with a view to sorting out some issues relating to the budget, which has technically been rejected by President Jonathan on three grounds.
Beyond jerking the figure by N63 billion, the lawmakers are insisting on $79 oil benchmark against the President’s $75 and a zero allocation to the Security and Exchange Commission, SEC, because of the differences between them and its DG, Arunma Oteh.
It is not clear whether the NASS would change its mind on any of the issues, but the National Assembly adviser to President Jonathan, Senator Joy Emordi, has said the two sides were 'working harmoniously for Nigerians'.
Naij

Maina: I’ve No Intention To Ridicule Jonathan

Chairman of the Pension Reform Task Team, Alhaji Abdulrasheed Maina, on Sunday said his going to court was not to ridicule the administration of President Goodluck Jonathan.
Maina, in a statement by the spokesperson of PRTT, Mr. Hassan Salihu, was reacting to the comments by the chairman, Senate Committee on State and Local Government, Senator Kabiru Gaya (ANPP, Kano South) that he was ridiculing Jonathan’s government by going to court to seek redress.
He said, “The PRTT would like to respectfully inform Senator Gaya that there is no civilised place or country on earth where going to court translates into ridiculing anybody or institution. Going to court is a basic requirement of a polite and modern democratic society.
“Nigeria is not anarchical, the court of law is the only hope of every helpless person like Maina; for this reason, the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria confers on him as a right to sue and be sued. No institution or person is too big before the court or any person to be considered too little to institute a case in the court against anyone.”
The PRTT boss had dragged the Senate, Inspector-General of Police and six other respondents to a Federal High Court in Abuja to enforce his fundamental human rights.
The case comes up today (Monday) for mention.
Meanwhile, a group, Youth Alliance for Good Governance and National Unity, on Sunday urged members of the National Assembly to review the nation’s criminal and penal codes.
A statement by the National Coordinator of YAGGANU, Mr. Reuben Akpan, and General Secretary, Mr. Abu Temitope, noted that the development would reduce the incidence of corruption in the country.
Naij