Actress and ex-wife of film maker & movie director Jeta Amata, Mbong has broken her silence on her marriage with Jeta which lasted for just five years
She divulged this piece of information to Encomium magazine this week. She spoke in glowing terms of her former husband with whom she has a 5 year old daughter.
“I have a lot of great and fond memories. I had more fun than bad memories with my former husband. I was first married to my friend before a husband. That was why we were civil enough to know that even if the marriage didn’t work, we were still friends and that is the bedrock of whatever it is that we have. We are connected for life. We have a child together. Yeah, we are cool, He is my guy. Jeta is a great man, fantastic dad but life has to move on”.
She revealed she is not in any relationship and she is not considering marriage at the moment as she wants to focus on raising her daughter and trying to nourish her career. Wondering what happened to Mbong Amata’s marriage, she had a simple answer, ‘life happened’.
Defections, Muazu’s leadership Qualities at Work – PDP
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has attributed the current surge of defections and the return of very influential Nigerians from the opposition to the PDP, to the sterling leadership qualities of its new National Chairman, Alhaji Ahmed Adamu Muazu, a development the party also said was an eloquent expression of the confidence Nigerians reposed in the PDP, as the only sure vehicle for the sustenance of democracy.
A statement by the PDP National Publicity Secretary, Chief Olisa Metuh said the in-built capacity for self recovery, a founding factor of resilience, which clearly separates the PDP from other political parties in Nigeria has been successfully honed and tapped into by an astute leadership leading to the current roaring of a once challenged political behemoth .
“The opposition who neglected this and who out of shock has been explaining this new development in the negative, is clearly reacting to save a thoroughly bruised ego and instinct, where a premature celebration of imaginary victory of the APC has been cut short.”
“Nigerians will recall that while being sworn-in, Alhaji Muazu pledged his determined effort and total commitment to breaking all barriers to peace and cohesion so as to halt the dwindling fortunes of the PDP. He has pursued this with vigor, sincerity and open heart and the result is manifest. ”
The statement further said the PDP was not surprised the APC membership registration fell far below the mouthful claims and media hype with which the exercise was orchestrated, as Nigerians refused to be trapped, adding it was a sign post to the bitter fate awaiting the party in the 2015 general elections.
“The fact is that Nigerians realized early enough that the APC is a rudderless ship captained by political rabble rousers, in a mal-voyage for the Bermuda. They have realized that the APC is an inoperable coalition of strange bed fellows whose buoyant pedigree in tribalism and bigotry will navigate the unity and the oneness of our people to the rocks, ” the statement said.
Stating that the APC is now faced with the reality of its hollowness, the ruling party said the opposition party displayed political immaturity in handling its fantasized majority in the National Assembly and the presumed control of states of Sokoto, Kano, Nasarawa, Kwara and Imo where the people have now rejected them.
It therefore urged all Nigerians who were either deceived or forced into the APC, to ignore the blackmail by its leadership, feel free to exercise their fundamental rights and liberate themselves.
Positing that its membership strength will continue to soar, the PDP assured that its doors were still open to all those willing to join the fold of ” the only party committed to the interest of the people, providing equal opportunities for all Nigerians to pursue and realize their political aspirations.”
There are indications that Nigeria’s President, Goodluck Jonathan may officially declare his intention to run for a second term at the 2015 Presidential polls by April.
It is understood that the President is carrying out a nationwide consultation to pave way for that as he has been seen visiting monarchs in South West states controlled by the All Progressives Congress in the past two weekends.
Sun News reports that Ambassador Aminu Wali who was recently screened by the Senate as a ministerial nominee from Kano Sate will be the Director General of the President’s second term campaign.
The race for the presidency is shaping up. In the right-place-right-time theory of politics, the moment matters. It’s scary to visualize what the political landscape will look like in 2015. For sure, there will be events that will try our souls between now and then.
With the disappearing act of President Goodluck Jonathan, Nigerians are looking for the next strongest leader to take over. Nigerians are fed up with the leadership of Mr. Jonathan. In the absence of a leader, Nigerians are like sheep without a shepherd and weyearn for a leader. Like any other group of people, we focus on our immediate felt needs, we struggle with delayed gratification, we feel insecure and begin to worry without abundant signs of hope, and we always ask: what has the leader done for us lately?
Leadership, like life, is the sum total of the decisions we make. Every decision has consequences. The president decides how he’ll respond to issues, decides on the size of the budget, decides on whom to hire, and decides what values and priorities are worth fighting for, and most importantly, decides what will be his legacy.
It is evident that the three-year presidency of Mr. Jonathan portrays him as a leader who lacks commitment, suffers from a scattered focus, looks for excuses, forgets the big picture, go public with private thoughts, behaves inconsistently, creates poor relationships, and avoids change.
For 2015, we want a leader who will separate himself regularly from the crowd. A leader who will pursue truth over popularity, a leader who is willing to take risks, who is ready to be watched by the public even though it feels intimidating to be watched and scrutinized.
We want a leader with character, a leadership with competence – ability to get the job done and leadership that produces results. We want a leadership with conviction – a leadership that has backbone, someone who will always stand for what is right. Tomorrow’s production begins with today’s preparation. We need a leader that will solve problems because the fastest way to gain leadership is to solve problems.
The cost and expectations of leadership are high and expensive. The failure of a leadership usually results in consequences far more greater than the fall of a non-leader. We want a leader that will live at a standard higher than others. A leader that cares for the interest of the poor, who live with integrity and keeps his word. We want a leader that managestime and the nation’s resources well.
Nigerians want a leader who is ready to listen to the people, who practice patience of silence and submission. He must be faithful and committed as a trustworthy partner of the people. We want a leadership with charisma, a man who enjoys a sense of giftedness.
Example is the most important tool a leader possesses. People do what people see. We need a leader that will set example. “Example is not the main thing influencing others,” says Albert Schweitzer, “it is the only thing.”
I remember an incident of leadership by example that took place when I was in high school. Our principal – a strict disciplinarian – had warned us several times to stop dumping refuse at a particular spot near the hostel. We refused to use the new pit dug for that purpose because it was a bit far from the hostel. Over time, the refuse pit had become a dunghill. Well, one day after the morning assembly, in his characteristic style of leadership by example, our principal gave the marching order: “Follow me.” We all lined up behind him. He headed straight to the dunghill. Without a word, he bent down and with his two hands grabbed his own piece of the dirt. Without any hesitation, mumbling, or grumbling,we all snatched our share of the mess. Within few minutes, the whole mess was gone. End of story!
By now, Nigerians are sick of scheming leaders who will do anything for the sake of power. Our political history shows that our leadership revolves around Machiavellian leadership style based on amorality, deception, power, ego, and personal advantage. By contrast, the leadership style required for 2015 should be based on morality, truthfulness, servanthood, humility, and meeting the needs of our people. It should be a leadership based on self-giving and not self-preservation.
We need a leader who projects confidence, strength, hope, optimism, and sincerity who can always inspire Nigerians through personal power in seemingly hopeless situations. In the darkest days of the Second World War in 1940, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill addressed the parliament: “I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears, and sweat,” he said. “We have before us an ordeal of the most grievous kind. We have before us many, many long months of struggle and suffering,” he assured the Brits.
Despite Churchill’s depressing words, it was the realistic assessment of the crisis faced by Britain. Indeed, as it turned out, those words lifted the morale and ignited the fighting spirit of the British people. With defiant courage, Churchill declared: “You ask, what is our aim? I can answer in one word: Victory. Victory at all costs, victory in spite of all terror, victory, however long and hard the road may be, for without victory there is no survival.” This is the type of president Nigeria needs. We don’t need a skilled manipulator with superficial charm without the experience, ability, values, and character that make an authentic leader’s president.
In a nutshell, the next president of Nigeria must be a leader with a sense of “I am eager” meaning a sense of passion and urgency about reaching Nigerians and meeting their needs, a sense of “I am obligated” that is, a feeling that he cannot do anything else vocationally, and a sense of “I am not ashamed” by way of conviction to do what others may think illogical.
So, let the race begins!
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Article by Bayo Oluwasanmi and you can reach him via [email protected] Disclaimer
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Opinion pieces and contributions are the opinions of the writers only and do not represent the opinions of Newswirengr
Credit: NNPC Home page
It was quite fascinating watching the petroleum minister, Diezani Allison-Madueke, speak before the Senate committee last week. Obviously, she convinced no one, not least the Senate committee, culminating in the Senate agreeing to do a forensic audit of the NNPC. Tellingly, the Senate did not appear to trust the finance minister either in this matter. Even with the forensic audit, it is possible that some people will still attempt to suborn the auditors, but we wait to see. No matter what happens, no one will believe Diezani’s bogus story on the kerosene subsidy.
I didn’t know whether to laugh or get angry at Diezani’s assertion that a presidential directive does not have the force of law and so she had no problems flouting it. What she did at the Senate committee hearings was to finally confirm what people were already talking about: that Nigeria has more than one president and that she is the more powerful president. What Diezani told the whole world was that she would not take a directive from the president unless he took such a directive to the National Assembly and it was made a law. If President Umaru Yar’Adua as president issued a directive on kerosene subsidy, that directive should remain in force until he or any of his successors gave a counter-directive. A directive from the president of a country is a pronouncement that immediately becomes policy. So a mere minister, an appointee of the president, does not have the power to flout such a directive.
Diezani also spiced her statement with a few lies. She said President Yar’Adua was about to reverse the presidential directive before he fell very ill. That, of course, was a lie as Mansur Mukhtar, the minister of finance, and Rilwan Lukman, the minister of petroleum, and others linked with the issue are still alive to confirm. Diezani probably remembers the meeting of June 9, 2009, and the memo of June 10, 2009, signed by David Edevbie, Yar’Adua’s principal private secretary. In attendance at that meeting were President Yar’Adua, Vice President Jonathan, the secretary to the government of the federation (SGF), minister of finance, minister of transport, minister of petroleum, GMD of NNPC, chief economic adviser to the president and the principal private secretary to the president. The meeting decided on a proposal by finance minister Mukhtar to eliminate the subsidy on kerosene because the subsidy never got to the targeted beneficiaries. This meeting proved that President Yar’Adua consulted first before giving the directive. All of those who attended the meeting except the late president Yar’Adua are still alive, so they can be invited to shed light on the matter. President Yar’Adua didn’t just wake up one day and decided to give the presidential directive as Diezani would want us believe. It was not true that Yar’Adua issued a stay of action but fell sick afterwards. In fact, one of the members of the Senate committee expressed shock that Diezani, a minister of the federal republic, could so openly lie on such a very important subject.
But Diezani’s statement also gives a glimpse into how President Jonathan runs his government. The question that we should all be asking Diezani now is how many other presidential directives, including the ones directly issued by Jonathan, she has similarly flouted. If she said that a presidential directive to suspend the subsidy on kerosene was not law, is the payment of subsidy itself law? Which part of the Nigerian law says she should pay subsidies at all? The payment of subsidy itself is a presidential directive, not law; so why is she paying it?
The quality of governance has significantly declined since Jonathan became president. Were it not so, the petroleum minister would have been fired the day she made that declaration at the Senate committee hearings. And President Jonathan would, in fact, have fired any other impudent minister –except of course those like Diezani that share the presidency with him.
What logic is the petroleum minister trying to give about paying the kerosene subsidy anyway? In effect, she decided to flout the presidential directive because she wanted to maintain the price of kerosene at N50 per litre. Well, the bad news for her is that, the last time I checked, kerosene actually sold at over N150 per litre at 95 per cent of the sales locations. It’s the same reason, in the first place, Yar’Adua gave the presidential directive.
It is noteworthy that when the CBN governor said the NNPC did not remit more than N3 trillion into the nation’s coffers, the NNPC did not deny that. Instead, the NNPC said it spent the amount, that humongous amount, on the payment of subsidies and management of pipes. The CBN governor was very clear in his own explanation. The governor said that, of the $67 billion worth of crude shipped by NNPC between January 2012 and July 2013, the CBN has records of the remittance of $47 billion, leaving $20 billion unaccounted for. But even scarier is Sanusi’s other revelation. He said the NPDC, a subsidiary of the NNPC, and two other private companies – Atlantic Energy and Seven Energy – shipped $6 billion worth of crude oil from the nation’s oil wells but did not remit the proceeds to the federation account. Well, Nigerians will want to know whose personal account this $6 billion was paid into, and only the minister is competent to answer this question. There are lots of shady deals going on between the NPDC on the one hand and both Atlantic Energy and Seven Energy on the other. Since the forensic audit is not going to investigate the NPDC, Atlantic Energy and Seven Energy, it would be important for the Senate to set up another panel of enquiry to ascertain the exact amount that has been stolen from the nation by these companies. The details from the available documents are quite nauseating.
Everyone knows that it is the petroleum minister that should really be answering the hard questions and not the management of the NNPC. The petroleum minister has no powers to commit the nation to such expenses and certainly no one believes her story, as there is nothing to show for the expenditure of N3 trillion. If Diezani had flouted the presidential directive and we all saw the use of the N3 trillion in the Niger Delta, for instance, then, the nation’s anger would not be as serious as it is now. Note that $20 billion expenditure in the Niger Delta would have changed that region forever. By the way, the cost of the construction of the Three Gorges Dam in China, which is the world’s largest single electricity station with an installed capacity of 22,500 megawatt, is only $26 billion.
Nigeria has simply been looted. Anyone who thinks this matter will just die off must be a joker. A lot more will come up in the coming weeks.
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Article originally published on Leadership Newspapers
Disclaimer
It is the policy of Newswirengr not to endorse or oppose any opinion expressed by a User or Content provided by a User, Contributor, or other independent party.
Opinion pieces and contributions are the opinions of the writers only and do not represent the opinions of Newswirengr
Chelsea manager, Jose Mourinho is of the opinion Manchester City can progress in the Champions League against Barcelona.
The Mancunian blues Barca at the Etihad Stadium on Tuesday evening after thumping Chelsea 2-0 in Saturday’s FA Cup triumph.
Mourinho, however – who has a long and fractious history with Barcelona – believes Tata Martino’s men have slipped from their pedestal enough this season to give City a good chance.
Mourinho told ITV:
“Of course by history Barcelona is the favourite, but this Barcelona, this season, is showing that it is not the same in previous years.
“Of course they have [Lionel] Messi, he is special, and they have more than him. But I think this is the worst Barcelona of many many years, so City have a chance.”
Mourinho is an infamous figure in Catalonia; he defeating Barcelona while with Chelsea (first era) and Inter. As Real Madrid coach, he also had series of squabbles with the coaching staff of Barcelona
Nigeria striker, Bright Dike has suffered a torn Achilles in training with Toronto FC.
The big attacker has in recent times been part of the Nigerian national team. He was also expected to play a pivotal role for his club, Toronto FC this year. The 27 years old striker has been tipped to feature for Nigeria in the World Cup this June but this injury might have cut his dreams short
Bright Dike was part of the Nigerian team that drew 2-2 against Italy on Nov. 18, 2013, a match in which he scored a goal
Nigeria’s Super Eagles coach, Stephen Keshi recently listed Dike as part of the squad to face Mexico in an international friendly on March 5 in the United States .
The forward’s injury will now come as a big blow to his club and country
Letters of allocation for the N200 billion intervention fund to all public universities in the country was presented on Monday by the Supervising Minister of Education, Nyesom Wike at a meeting with vice chancellors of the universities in Abuja. He urged the institutions to use the funds judiciously and take the institutions to the next level.
He reaffirmed Government’s commitment to improving university education in the country. To ensure accountability, the Minister said government would begin to inform the public of what the institutions achieved with the funds from next month
The exercise would go on in all geopolitical zones of the country, as from March 4 with the North-Central Zone at the Federal College of Agriculture, Makurdi.
South-East zone would converge at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, on March 11. The South-South zone would meet at the University of Port Harcourt on March 10. North West zone will meet at Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria and the South-West zone would converge at the University of Ibadan on a date to be announced.
Wike revealed this is not an audit on financial expenditures of the institutions but a public awareness campaign to reveal government’s efforts at revamping the education sector as the events would be aired live
The federal government had approved a N200 billion increase in university funding in the 2014 budget following ASUU’s strike for the better part of 2013.
This increase as revealed by the Federal government would go on for the next four years so as to ensure that our universities meet world standards.
The Northern States Governors’ Forum (NSGF) on Monday urged the Federal Government to deploy more troops to the north east to contain the upsurge in attacks by insurgents.
The governors made the call in a communique issued at the end of their meeting in Kaduna.
The NSGF Chairman and Niger State Governor, Alhaji Bababgida Aliyu, who read out the resolution to newsmen, said the security situation in the north-east was assuming a worrying dimension.
“The forum called on the federal government to deploy more security personnel with superior military equipment as well as adopt measures to boost their morale, to enable them effectively fight the insurgents and other threats to security in the region.
“The forum called on the government to secure the country’s porous borders by restricting trans-border movements, providing adequate funding, as well as implementing all past security reports in the country.”
The governors resolved to adopt common approach towards combating insurgency in the region.
This he said would be done by “down playing political differences and working towards a common goal; improving on intelligence gathering and vigorously pursuing employment and youth empowerment programmes to take idle youths off our streets.”
The northern governors also expressed concern over the inability of the New Nigeria Development Company (NNDC) to actualise its mission and vision.
It challenged the company to address critical issues affecting the north, “particularly human capital deficit, economic regeneration and infrastructure deficit”.
The forum directed the investment committee of the board to meet with the management of the company with a view to re-prioritise the company’s proposed five-year strategic plan.
The northern governors also resolved to nominate the “best of brains from the north” to represent it at the forthcoming national conference.
Also, the forum frowned at the continuous collection of multiple taxes on agricultural produce and cattle on the highway.
It called on such states to obey a High Court judgement which banned such collections.
It commended the effort of the Kano State Government for banning street begging and urged other states to adopt the measure.
The communique called on the federal government to compensate families of security personnel killed in the Ombatse crisis in Nassarawa State.
It directed the Sir Ahmadu Bello Memorial Foundation to articulate tangible projects that would touch the lives of the people, especially in the area of education.
Following media reports that Tuface Idibia has again impregnated a top Lagos banker, the Singer Tuesday denied the allegations.
The report by blogs, (Not newswirengr) alleged that the singer impregnated a young lady who works for one of the new generation banks, Teniola, . And it claims the expectant lady is three months pregnant.
2face known as Innocent Idibia took to twitter to remind his followers that he is an open book and the stories were written by blogs trying to soil his reputation.
“@2faceIdibia Everybody make una see fake blog @AfricanCelebSpy with fake news trying 2 soil my reputation. GOD go judge una”
“@2faceIdibia The whole world knows I’m an open book. If anything happen na me go first tell una.”
He went on to joke about the stories with the tweet
“@2faceidibia Ok make I give dem news, I don give 8 virgins belle. How about that”
The African queen singer is married to Annie Idibia who recently put to birth with a bouncing baby girl. He is blessed with eight kids two from wife and six from baby mamas.
Forget the tears! Mario Balotelli is happy at AC Milan. It has been rumoured that the controversial Italian might be offloaded in the summer but he insists he is happy at Milan
Before Balotelli’s arrival in Milan, former Italian Prime minister and AC Milan owner, Silvio Berlusconi had labelled the player, ‘A rotten apple’. Reports in December had it that Berlusconi wanted Mario sold in the Winter transfer window, a claim which was denied by the club.
Balotelli on his part is enjoying life under new coach, Clarence Seedorf despite rumours still lingering that he may be sold in the summer
“I have spoken with him about situations with the team and the things that I must do on the field,I’m happy.”
“Seedorf is a great champion and it’s a pleasure to listen to him. He was also a great player. I hope that everything goes well.” Balotelli told Marca
Balotelli has recently been linked with a move to Premier league side, Chelsea where he will reunite with his former boss, Jose Mourinho. In the summer, the truth will eventually unfold.
The February Edition Of City People’s Fashion & Lifestyle magazine houses the photos of two of the prettiest ladies on the African continent on the cover
Ex Beauty Queen, Omowunmi Akinnifesi and Ghollywood actress, Juliet Ibrahim make a beautiful cover for this new edition.
Inside, Juliet Ibrahim likens her curves to that of a “Coca-Cola Bottle”. Omowunmi on her part is excited about her new look.
