Leadership news by LEADERSHIP Newspaper

SATURDAY No. 470

N300

07.02.15

FOR GOD AND COUNTRY

www.leadership.ng

nigeria's MOST INFLUENTIAL NEWSPAPER

Leadership Newspapers

@leadershipNGA

front page comment If They Cannot Guarantee Security, The Service Chiefs Should Resign Now We are hearing that the service chiefs have been saying that they cannot guarantee security for the February 14 elections. In fact, we under-

stand that they signed a joint statement to the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Attahiru Jega, making

this ridiculous confession. When President Goodluck Jonathan appointed them last year, they had their jobs cut out for them:

to bring the insanity of Boko Haram to an end, or at worst, contain it. This obviously is in addition to their statutory function of securing the nation.

The chief of Defence Staff, Alex Badeh, said publicly that he would rout the murderous Boko Haram group in three months. ➔ CONTINUES ON PAGE 3

Jega Under Duress To 5 Shift Election By 6 Weeks We will decide today – INEC Electoral body not prepared – FG

Some of 19 improvised explosive devices found and defused by men of the Adamawa State Police Command in Yola, yesterday. PHOTO BY nan

Chibok Diary DAY

299

Insurgency: Take Cue From France, Chad, BBOG Group Tells FG > Page 60

Osun Tribunal Dismisses Omisore's 62 Petition, Affirms Aregbesola's Election

Saturday, February 7, 2015

NASARAWA STATE GOVERNMENT

Congratulatory Message

The entire citizens of Nasarawa state celebrate with you, the people of Kano state, and indeed all Nigerians as your coronation takes place today. May Allah guide, protect the San Kano and grant him long life in good health. May you reign for long.

Congratulations!

His HigHNess

SANUSI II emir of Kano

Signed:

MUHAMMADU

His Excellency

Umaru Tanko Al-Makura Executive Governor, Nasarawa State

our stand Saturday, February 7, 2015

If They Cannot Guarantee Security, The Service Chiefs Should Resign Now ➔ FROM COVER PAGE

One year and one month later, and under his watch, Boko Haram has become savagely audacious. The embarrassing failure of Badeh and Jonathan’s government has become an excuse to mess with the country’s future, making us look like a land of fools and idiots. In decent countries Badeh, all the service chiefs and indeed Jonathan, their appointor, would have resigned with their tails between their legs. They would have publicly apologised for the grief they have brought upon the nation through their incompetence. They would have repented for the shame of Nigeria, once Africa’s giant, now reduced to looking to Chad and Cameroon and Niger Republic for salvation from Boko Haram. They would have been afraid to retain their positions

much less contemplate using their failure to press for the shift of an election date foreknown years ago. But that, obviously, will be expecting too much. This morning, against common sense and the wise counsel of the National Council of State, Jega may be compelled to announce a shift in election date literally at gunpoint. We know there are many forces at work, including INEC commissioners and insiders who want to sabotage the

Ag. Editor Catherine Agbo Deputy Editor Kazeem Akintunde Editorial Board Safiya M. Adamu, Chairman Christian Ochiama, Deputy Chairman Standards ’Lara Olugbemi, Director

vote and push Jega over the edge. In their desperation they fail to see that this is about Nigeria. The service chiefs are expected to tell Jega that they cannot guarantee security if he insists in continuing with the elections on schedule. We find it shocking beyond words that Jega is being forced to carry the can for the failure of the security chiefs and the Jonathan government as a whole. If the security chiefs by themselves admit they can no longer secure the country as they have so openly done, then they should resign immediately and pave way for those who can. Announcing a date change to do in six weeks what this government has failed to do in five years does not make sense. The honourable thing for the service chiefs to do is to resign now. They must not plunge this country into chaos.

Founder Sam Nda-Isaiah

Group Managing Director Azubuike Ishiekwene Group Executive Directors Michael Okpere Dr Kazeem Durodoye Divisional Directors Iyobosa Uwugiaren Salisu Alhassan Bichi General Managers Aminu Abubakar Sule Abdulmumin Balogun Zipporah D. Tanko

Leadership Holdings

Managing Director Abraham Nda-Isaiah Executive Director Nnamdi Samuel New York Office Mohammed Bello Shehu London Office Dr Bello Salihu Johannesburg Office Abiodun Oguntuase

LEADERSHIP is a national paper symbolically embedded in the nation’s capital. We shall stand up for good governance. We shall defend the interest of Nigerian people even against their rulers, and we shall raise our pen at all times in defence of what is right. These are the values by which we intend to be assessed. We shall never, ever for any reason forget the noble reason of our coming into being: For God and country!

Saturday, February 7, 2015

NEWS 5

Saturday, February 7, 2015

Jega Under Duress To Shift Election By 6 Weeks By Catherine Agbo, George Agba and Chibuzo Ukaibe, Abuja; MIDAT JOSEPH, Kaduna; MIKE UBANI, Enugu; ACHOR ABIMAJE, Jos and Tope Fayehun, Akure

Despite the decision of the National Council of States that the 2015 elections should go on as scheduled there is mounting pressure on the chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof Attahiru Jega, to postpone the election by six weeks and there are indications that he may likely bow to the pressure, which sources close to him say he has been overwhelmed by. The Council of State, after a marathon meeting that began at about 11:30am and ended at about 7:30pm on Thursday, urged INEC to proceed with its assignment of conducting the 2015 general elections scheduled to begin on February 14, 2015. The development followed the insistence of the electoral body that it was fully prepared for the polls on the grounds that 65 per cent of Nigerians had received their permanent voter cards (PVCs). A highly placed INEC official told LEADERSHIP Weekend yesterday that despite Jega’s assurances that the commission was ready for the election and his insistence that the election must go on, he was, however, now worried that some top officials of INEC who had stood by him that the election should go on were now changing their position in a manner that suggested that they may have been bought over by those pushing for the election shift, hence, may sabotage the measures put in place to conduct the polls successfully. According to sources, the proponents of election shift, working in cohorts with highly placed security advisers in the presidency have been engaged in subtle blackmail of the INEC chairman, citing the security situation, particularly in the north eastern part of the country and nationwide tension as reasons why the elections must not go on. The sources told LEADERSHIP Weekend that security forces, had categorically told Jega that they could not guarantee security for the conduct of the election at this time, saying he would be responsible for whatever outcome if he insists on going ahead.

It was further gathered that President Goodluck Jonathan had in a meeting with a visiting group, said he had no problem with the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Gen Muhammadu Buhari, but expressed worry over four people around Buhari, namely Rivers State governor and director general of the Buhari Campaign Organisation, Mr. Chibuike Amaechi, former Bayelsa State governor, Timipre Sylva, Emir of Kano, Muhammadu Sanusi II and APC governorship candidate in Kaduna State, Nasir el-Rufai. Sources close to the presidency further hinted that the plan of the ruling party is to postpone the election in the hope that the postponement would provoke unrest that would lead to the declaration of a nationwide state of emergency and in the event that this fails, the long period before the new election date would wear out the financial resources of the opposition. Electoral body not prepared – FG Meanwhile, in a move that could be said to be a confirmation of allegations that the presidency and the PDP are behind sundry calls for the postponement of the elections scheduled to hold seven days from today, the presidency yesterday gave a barrage of reasons why it nurses some reservations that the February14 date scheduled for the conduct of the 2015 general election may not be feasible. It insisted that INEC had not been able to convince Nigerians that it was ready for the elections, adding that there had never been and never shall be any plan to cancel the 2015 elections for any reasons whatsoever because the May 29th date for the swearing-in of a new government in the country is sacrosanct. Senior special assistant to the president on public affairs, Dr Doyin Okupe, who stated this at a press conference in Abuja, yesterday, also said all the talks about interim government arrangement were pure fiction. He said it had become necessary to correct some wrong information in the media concerning the outcome of the Council of State meeting held at the Presidential Villa on Thursday. According to Okupe, it

A SHORT GUIDE To A Long Life

Measure Yourself

Jega was the INEC chairman who mentioned clearly before the Council of State that “given a little more time, INEC would be in a better position to perfect these processes and its readiness for the 2015 elections.” He said, “President Goodluck Jonathan is not interested, neither is he engaged in any form of subterfuge to pressurise INEC to change the dates of the 2015 elections. The president like many governors and citizens of Nigeria is concerned about the state of preparedness of INEC for the 2015 elections, especially as it concerns the guarantee of the rights of every Nigerian citizen who has fulfilled the conditions for INEC’s voter registration and may still be disenfranchised from the process of voting at the general elections.” The presidential aide recalled that the 2003, 2007 and 2011, elections were held in April and the hand over date was not affected. He cited the security situation and the danger that the current war against insurgency in some parts of the country may pose on the conduct of elections in the affected areas as the main concern of the presidency about the polls taking place this month. Okupe said, “I wish to state categorically here that at no time during the entire 7 hour meeting did the INEC Chairman Prof Attahiru Jega insist that the elections must hold on February 14th and 28th 2015 as published by some electronic/print media. Rather Jega gave the council a report on the progress so far made by the INEC on its preparedness for the 2015 elections. “In all its submissions the only process that was 100 per cent concluded was the preparation and availability of the voters register. All other processes including provision, distribution and

Every day I read about some new gadget or app on the market that can help track my health and happiness. (At last count, there were more than seven thousand self-tracking smart-phone apps alone, and the market for selftracking gadgetry is exploding.) How many steps did you take today? How long were you in dreamy REM sleep last night? How fast did you eat lunch? What’s your pulse? How many calories are you burning? What’s your blood oxygen level? What’s your brain’s electrical activity at night? How stressed are you? What emotions are you feeling? You can answer these questions if you have the right device. (Although I should hope you can take a good guess as to how stressed and emotional you are sans a digital reader.) If you really want to take Rule 1 to the maximum, then consider measuring yourself a bit more formally with the help of nifty devices. In 2007, a couple of brainy

Wired editors saw this coming: the day when we’d be able to track ourselves digitally as Sanctorius of Padua did manually when he weighed everything that came in and out of his body over a period of thirty years in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The Wired editors coined the term the “quantified self;’ and this kind of effort has already become a movement. Even if you don’t subscribe to the idea of wearing a piece of Star Treky equipment, most of us keep mental track of certain things in our lives such as weight, sleep quality, and activity level-if just to make sure we’re within the parameters we’d like to follow. But seriously, you might want to consider adding a tracking app or device of some kind to your life. I can’t even begin to list them all here, and by the time you read this a whole new generation of useful software programs and devices will surely have hit the market.

collection of PVC’s, printing of ballot papers, distribution of Verification machines and other non-sensitive materials, recruitment and training of ad hoc staff were as at 5th February 2015 all “works in progress”; with some assurance that all will be ready on or before 14th of February 2015. “Also in his presentations to the council the INEC chairman stated clearly that for the electoral process to be free, fair, and credible, there are other matters which were not under the control of INEC principal among which is the issue of provision and guarantee of security of life and property.” Okupe added that even the security chiefs unanimously suggested at the council meeting that it would be difficult for them to guarantee security for INEC in areas worst hit by the terrorist group. He said, “the security chiefs were unanimous in their advice to the council that it will be impossible for now for them to guarantee security of electoral materials, INEC staff and the voting population in the areas currently engulfed by the war against insurgency. “Some opinions were

therefore proffered that elections may be allowed to hold on the 14th February in the 32 states not affected by the current war against terrorism; while local elections may thereafter hold in those areas after the security situation would have improved. “The President made it clear that he cannot in good conscience endorse an electoral arrangement where people from a section of the country would be excluded from the electoral process due to no fault of theirs or by virtue of just being unfortunate residents of an area under siege of terrorism.” Besides, Okupe said President Jonathan is not happy that the situation “will tend to confirm the deliberate falsehood already being propagated in some parts of the country that he was encouraging the war in the North East to ensure that voters in the APC states of the North East are not allowed to vote in the 2015 elections. The final conclusion was that INEC should in view of the several submissions made in the council, by the former presidents, state governors ➔ CONTINUES ON PAGE 6

6 NEWS

Saturday, February 7, 2015

Jega Under Duress To Shift Election By 6 Weeks ➔ FROM PAGE 5

and the security agencies, go and consult further after which they should communicate their decisions to the Nigerian People on the suitability or otherwise of the February 14th and 28th dates.” On the guarantee that should the polls be shifted, the Boko Haram activities would be contained for the elections to take place, he said with the new wave of successes being recorded by the military in the war against insurgency, there was hope. Okupe further challenged the opposition to state what injury they will suffer should the elections are postponed. “This administration remains committed to a transparent, credible all inclusive free and fair elections, and will ensure that it employs all powers available to it to guarantee that this happens without any infringement on our sacred constitutional provisions”. Okupe further hinted that field report has indicated that many of the states were yet to receive PVCs for those who registered newly in November. He said, “this number is in several millions. In some states, (name withheld), a polling unit is recorded to have distributed 1200 cards, but the actual voters register from the headquarters indicated that only eight people are reflected. “In Sokoto, nine LGAs are yet to receive PVCs for the CVR nine days to the elections. Most of the states of the federation are yet to receive full compliments of the required card reading machines, most of which have not been tested or tried. “The INEC has directed that should any card reading machine fail, the voters are to return the next day, while the result of elections is frozen at the polling stations. As I speak to you, the majority of the 960,000 Adhoc staff are yet to be recruited and trained especially on the operations of card readers that are yet to be made available. As of today, Lagos is yet to receive a balance of 12,000 card readers with elections in a week from now. It will be very reassuring if the INEC can get its state Residential Electoral Commissioners to attach their state of readiness to a sworn affidavit and show it to the Nigerian people”. We will decide today - INEC Following the advice of the National Council of State, INEC said the commission’s

chairman, Jega, will today meet with chairmen and secretaries of all registered political parties, as well as Resident Electoral Commissioners (RECs) to decide whether or not the election should go on as scheduled. Chief Press Secretary to the INEC chairman, Kayode Idowu, in a statement issued yesterday, said the decision Buhari reached at the meeting would Jonathan be communicated to all In a telephone interview with executive arm of government Nigerians today. LEADERSHIP WEEKEND, “On Thursday, February and the ruling People’s 5, 2015, the chairman of Democratic Party of allegedly secretary general of the the Independent National planning to shift the polls for organisation, Dr. Joe Nwaorgu, Electoral Commission fear of losing to the opposition said INEC should be given more time to ensure that (INEC), Professor Attahiru parties. Spokesman of the forum every eligible voter exercises Jega, was invited to brief the National Council of State and former vice chancellor of their franchise, adding that (NCS) on the preparedness the Ahmadu Belo University, the commission should ensure of INEC to conduct the Zaria, Prof Ango Abdullahi, equity and fairness in the 2015 general elections. He said, “It appears and clear to all discharge of its constitutional made a presentation titled that it is the ruling party and function. “If arrangements are “Preparations for the 2015 the executive that are calling General Elections: Progress for the postponement of the inadequate, Ohanaeze Ndigbo Report.’ The National Security elections because they are stands for the deferment of Adviser (NSA) and Armed scare of losing. The ruling party the general elections to allow Services Chiefs also briefed the and the executive appear not all Nigerians who are of age to council on the current security to be ready for the February exercise their franchise. This situation. elections. The election must is an exercise that takes place “As a follow-up to that go on. We insist that it should every four years, and since the meeting, the commission be held and we reject any plan last general elections many has scheduled a consultative to postpone it.” more people have attained meeting with chairmen and Also reacting to the calls the voting age, and so nobody secretaries of all registered for the postponement of should be disenfranchised. political parties, as well as a the elections, the Arewa That is our position,” Nwaorgu meeting with the Resident Consultative Forum (ACF) and said. He further said the Electoral Electoral Commissioners the Itsekiri Leaders of Thought in a communiqué after a closed Act could be tinkered with to (RECs) on Saturday, February door meeting held in Kaduna accommodate the proposal for 7, 2015. Thereafter, the commission will address a press yesterday which lasted for the deferment of the general conference to brief the nation about eight hours, called on elections. “The law is made for on its decision with regard to INEC and other stakeholders, man, and not man for the law. whether or not the general to under no circumstances, The 2011 general election was elections will hold as currently contemplate the postponement held in April. For equity and scheduled,” the statement read. of the elections as scheduled. fairness, nobody should be According to them, the disenfranchised”, argues the Ethnic Groups Kick Against implication of postponing secretary general. Postponement of Election the elections will be too farThe coordinator of the Against the backdrop of calls reaching, as it may create Middle Belt Dialogue, Mr for the postponement of the constitutional crisis, loss of Aminu Izang, who also spoke elections, leaders of regional confidence by the people in the to LEADERSHIP Weekend, socio-cultural organisations system and social crises as well said the elections ought to go in the country have also joined as general uncertainty. ahead as planned but since the ranks of those insisting The two leading groups in the INEC chairman had ample that the elections should go the communiqué signed by opportunity to finish all the ahead as scheduled. Ibrahim Ahmadu Coomassie, necessary arrangements but The Arewa Consultative chairman of ACF and Chief I.O failed, the forum wouldn’t say Forum (ACF), Northern Elders Jemide, Leader of Delegation no to a postponement. Forum (NEF), Itsekiri Leaders of the Itsekiri Leaders of According to him, a lot of Thought, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Thought, reaffirmed their belief of people do not have the and Afenifere are all of the in one Nigeria and confidence PVCs and so if the election is opinion that INEC should not in the role elections play in shifted, it will give room to succumb to the pressure of a democracy and therefore those people to get their PVCs shifting the poll. Some however asked all to sustain the current to vote and INEC would have gave conditions for postponing democratic system, adding that done enough preparation to the poll, but said it shouldn’t “we should not temper with the conduct the election. electoral process.” affect the handover date. However, the Pan-Yoruba The Igbo socio-cultural socio-political organisation, When LEADERSHIP Ohanaeze Afenifere, supported calls Weekend spoke to leaders of organisation, the various organisations, Ndigbo on its part also said for the postponement of the they advised INEC to resist the the elections should go ahead February 14 election despite temptation to shift the election as planned. It however added assurance by the Independent date despite the mounting that the poll could be shifted to INEC chairman. April if INEC is presently not pressure. The group said over 40 per The Northern Elders Forum prepared to conduct the polls cent of the electorate were yet (NEF) in a chat, accused the on those dates. to collect their voter cards,

hence the need for INEC to pause a bit to enable those are yet to collect their PVCs to do so, so as to capture the maximum number of people who registered to vote. Making the position of the group known to LEADERSHIP correspondent yesterday, its Publicity Secretary, Yinka Odumakin said, if INEC would conduct an acceptable election for Nigerians, the tenets of democracy must be strictly adhered to, adding that it is not feasible for credible polls to hold when majority of voters are yet to collect their PVCs. The group expressed dismay over the assurance of the INEC chairman that the commission is ready to distribute voter cards a day to the election which they said is not feasible, saying if they have failed to do it before now, there is no assurance that they will conclude the distribution before the election. “As at today, we are worried that Prof Jega said he is ready for the election when over 40 per cent of the electorate have not collected their PVCs and if Prof. Jega is organising election for Nigeria and not on vested interest, it is good that we get maximum number of the people that register to vote. “I heard him when he said they are more prepared than they were in 2011 but then, there was nobody who registered that did not have card to vote because they had the temporary cards. So if we have a situation whereby some people have not collected their PVCs and there are allegations here and there of deliberate sabotage, I think it is necessary and proper to pause and find solutions to the matter, most especially the security challenges in the North East. “In any case, as long as no law is violated, what should not be tampered with is the handing over date, that is May 29 which is sacrosanct and no law says election must hold on February 14. So if elections hold up till April 28, no laws will be violated. When we sort out the problems and we hold proper elections that will not resort to problems, nobody will have any reason to challenge the outcome. In doing that, we will be able to defend our democracy, but let nobody tamper with the handover date of May 29,” Odumakin said. He also warned that the outcome of any election conducted on the basis of disenfranchising almost half of the electorate, will not be credible or acceptable.

NEWS 7

Saturday, February 7, 2015

Panic Relocation Hits Campuses, Students Leave In Droves By Kuni Tyessi, Abuja

Despite the decision of the federal government not to close schools ahead of the elections, investigations by LEADERSHIP Weekend show that there is mass movement of students from campuses of tertiary institutions across the country. This is just as many institutions of learning in defiance of the federal government directive have suspended academic activities. A staff of the Kaduna State College of Education, Gidan Waya in Kafanchan, who pleaded anonymity, told LEADERSHIP Weekend, that students of the institution had been moving in their numbers and more will move in the week of the elections. He said, “already there is a circular informing students not to travel but to remain on campus. Many of the students have said that circular or no circular, they must travel.” Checks by our correspondent revealed that some universities had reorganised their programmes and brought examinations forward, to enable them finish and go on break before the elections, while others had put academic activities on hold till after the elections. A postgraduate student of the Nasarawa State University, Keffi, Uloma Martins, told LEADERSHIP Weekend that academic activities at the institution had been put on hold till after the elections. She also confirmed that many students of the institution had relocated to their homes ahead of the election. “We have finished lectures and ought to have started exams but it has been deferred till after the election,” she said. A student of the Federal Uni-

versity of Agriculture, Makurdi, Benue State, Thomas Orbiam, said exams for undergraduate students of the institution had been scheduled to end on February 12, after which they would proceed on a two months break. In other institutions, though the school administrators had not declared a break, many students it was gathered, had gone back home for fear of possible outbreak of violence after the election. Similarly, many private schools in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and environs have gone on a two weeks break to resume after the elections. A teacher in one of the private schools in Kado, Abuja, who craved anonymity, told our correspondent that the forthcoming elections were the reason for the closure. “We did continuous assessment for the term after which we went on break on the 6th of February, to resume in two weeks,” she added. Meanwhile, mixed reactions from stakeholders in the education sector have continued to trail the federal government’s decision on the closure of schools. While others have accused the federal government of insensitivity to the plight of students and parents, and have accused the minister of education, Mallam Ibrahim Shekarau of not diligently seeking the opinion of students and parents before embarking on such a decision, others have said it is the right decision in the right step. National vice president of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), Mr Timileyin Ayenuro, in a telephone chat told LEADERSHIP Weekend that the association had a meeting with the minister of education on January 6, 2015, and requested that schools should be allowed to be in

Shekarau session before, during and after the 2015 polls. “This decision by the federal government is the best thing that has happened to us and it is one of our success stories. We had a meeting with the minister and we requested for it because we have observed that decisions taken in this country affect youths and students more. We have decided that this time around, students’ votes must count as many of us registered in school. “The issue of adequate security must be looked into because we need to decide who our leaders should be. There is no need for fear because our institutions are more or less the safest places to be. We have tried to sensitise fellow students on social media and other avenues as our votes must count this time around. There are no lectures on Saturdays in most campuses and so if there are students who registered outside school, they can travel on Friday to cast their votes. Already, we have informed students to report any irresponsible behaviour likely to cause chaos to relevant authorities,” he said. Also speaking, the executive secretary of a non-governmen-

tal organisation, Youths Empowerment Initiative (YEEI) Mr Christopher Edewor, opined that there is need for the federal government to renege on its decision as it is not in the best interest of Nigerians. “Seriously we are against it. How many of them have their children schooling in this country? Ask the minister if he has his children schooling in this country,” he said. “We are not praying for anything bad to happen but students should be told to stay at home. We don’t trust the security even though the government has said it will provide adequate security. If the results are announced, the students might become vulnerable and will be slaughtered like goats and chickens. This election is different because of the politicians who have been over-heating the polity. Parents are not comfortable. In the past, when elections were conducted, there was no Boko Haram and our girls were not vulnerable. We are still talking about the Chibok girls, what have the federal government done about their rescue? Please, the federal government needs to look into this decision,” Edewor added. A parent who is a civil servant at the ministry of education and who pleaded anonymity, stated that “all the commissioners and directors who were at he closed door meeting with the minister do not have their children schooling in the country, and even if they do, they will ensure they keep them at home during the elections. Who do they want to deceive?” Hajiya Bintu Bukar, a parent in Wuse 2 was of the opinion that government does not take proactive measures to forestall ugly

incidents until they happen. She said, “it is unfortunate that the government does not care whether we live or die as long as themselves and families are secure. You can imagine the government insisting that schools must be in session during the polls. As for me, my kids attend day schools and will not attend school until I’m sure that nothing will happen to them.” Attempts to speak to the National Teachers Union (NUT) president, Comrade Micheal Olukoya on the matter proved abortive as the executive members were said to have travelled to Kenya for a congress meeting and will be back at the weekend. Kelechi Nwobodo and Susan Omotayo, both students of Day Spring Academy in Mararaba, Nasarawa State have stated that even their parents and teachers who are adults and should know better have not helped matters with their kind of utterances. For Nwobodo, she had this to say, “my mother keeps saying that Nigeria will divide in 2015 after the elections and always disturbs my father that we should relocate to the east. I’m afraid even though I feel nothing will happen. Each time I say this, my mother says I’m still a child and don’t know what’s happening.” Damilola Fakorede, a teacher in a private school in Mararaba, on his part, stated that, “inasmuch as there are agitations for closure of schools, I go with the federal government. You need to see the problem we are facing in the covering of our syllabus and coupled with the fact that this term is short. If students don’t perform well, it’s still going to be the fault of the teachers as usual and parents will not know the roles they have played.”

Fight Against Boko Haram Turns Children Into ‘Soldiers’, Spies By Philip Obaji Jr

More than five years of fighting in north eastern Nigeria has produced a replay of Africa’s catastrophic history. Nearly 10,000 have died and over one million people have been displaced. Many schools have been closed, abduction of girls is on the rise and another ghost of wars past is reappearing: the recruitment of child soldiers. Kidnapped by Boko Haram fighters or drawn into the now famous self-defence militia widely dubbed “the Civilian Joint Task Force (CJTF)”, children - some as young as 13 - are forced to become soldiers, spies and porters. According to a local report, children now make up about 40 per cent of the insurgents’ total force strength of around 60,000. On the CJTF side, senior members admit, children are nearly a quarter of

the more than 10,000-strong self-defence forces. The CJTF justifies its use of child soldiers as a necessity following increasing attacks by Boko Haram. “The insurgents are many in number, and we need as many people as we can to fight them,’’ says Bukkar, a senior member of the self-defence militia. ‘’These kids have lots of energy and are very important in this fight.’’ For Boko Haram, who kill with impunity, the use of child warriors needs no justification. In a region where the insurgents enjoy a stronghold and kidnapped more than 270 schoolgirls last April, young civilians have been taking protection and justice into their own hands. In June 2013, discontent with Nigeria’s official Joint Military Task Force (JTF) spawned an unofficial offshoot - the CJTF - a loosely-organised network of

vigilantes who have been credited with pushing Boko Haram out of the metropolitan center of Maiduguri in Borno State. A growing concern now is the impact of the five-year-old conflict on children in north eastern Nigeria. Despite strong legislative provisions, including the 2003 Child Rights Act, state-level child protection networks and humanitarian initiatives post the abductions of the girls in Chibok to assist survivors of violations, several gaps still exist in Nigeria’s child protection system. During my trip to Maiduguri last October, I met children who have been gravely affected by the insurgency and had lost hope of ever getting a better life. Children like Hauwa, a 16-yearold schoolgirl who told me she was never going to walk on the streets of Maiduguri alone because she feared she could be

raped a second time. Her story, just like that of 12-year-old Mu’azu who watched his parents and two siblings killed one black Sunday in Maiduguri, left me in tears. But the story of a kid on the verge of having his youth snatched away still worries me. Usman was 13 when he joined the CJTF in 2013, understandably to protect his community from Boko Haram attacks. Sadly, he has found life as a soldier more comfortable than having to be forced every morning to attend “school classes that are boring,” as he puts it. Like other boys in the CJTF brigade, he has become hardened and knows perfectly how to use a gun. But, unlike his peers forcefully conscripted by Boko Haram, Usman is trained to protect his people and not kill at will. Despite his motive, Usman’s new militia life is of huge concern, as he is fast learning

the mean ways of war actors. With hundreds of children actively taking part in the war, Nigeria may just begin to witness a familiar African problem where child soldiers find it very hard to reintegrate into the society at the end of conflicts. In fellow West African countries like Liberia and Sierra Leone, former child soldiers face lots of stigmatisation as many still think their old lives of killing, theft and drug abuse haven’t left them. The children themselves have found it hard adjusting to a new environment. For kids conscripted by Boko Haram, who once had fun playing around the compound with their peers and visiting friends after school hours, returning to that life if and when the war ends won’t be easy. — Obaji is A World at School Global Youth Ambassador from Nigeria

8 news across the states

Saturday, February 7, 2015

Court Remands Killer Cop in Prison

Nyanya Bomb Blast: FG Files 7-count Charge Against 7 Suspects

A Chief Magistrate’s Court sitting at the Ebute-Metta area of Lagos State, yesterday ordered that a policeman, Otene Godwin be remanded in prison custody for alleged unlawful killing of one Oyoma Edewor, aged 33, with his service riffle. The 30-year-old alleged killer-policeman, with force number F/No. 355272, attached to Area ‘E’ Command, Festac, was said to have killed the deceased on May 10, 2014, at about 11.10 pm, at Alakija Bus Stop, Festac town, Lagos, while on illegal duty. The police sergeant was accused by the prosecuting police officer, Inspector Richard Odigie, of abandoning his duty post at the Area Command, where he was a station guard, to commit the heinous crime. Odigie also alleged that the deceases, a building contractor was in his Sport Vehicle Utility (SVU) car, which was been towed from Lekki area of Lagos due to an accident with some friends. The prosecutor further claimed that the accused person with two other policemen said they suspected that the SUV was stolen, even though the victims tried to explain why the car was being towed. Odigie said the explanation was ignored by the policemen, who fled the scene after the killing. The sergeant was however charged before the court on one count charge of murder. Olugbenga Soyele, Lagos

The federal government on Friday filed a seven-count terrorism charge at the Federal High Court, Abuja, against seven people arrested in connection with the April 14, 2014, Nyanya bus station bomb blast. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the accused were arrested by security agents following investigations into the

APC: We Will Grow Annual Oil Revenue To $50bn The All Progressives Congress (APC) has said it plans to grow Nigeria’s revenue from crude oil production to $50 billion from its current level by growing daily crude oil production to four million barrels per day by 2019, up from the current average of 2.2m barrel per day. The party’s publicity secretary, Alh Lai Mohammed, who stated this yesterday in Abuja while speaking at a town hall meeting organised by the Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD) added that the party would also ensure the complete elimination of gas flaring within two years. The PDP, represented by one of its officials, Dr Katchy Onunuju, also stated that the APC was only trying to reinvent what the PDPled government has already done in the country’s oil and gas industry. The town hall meeting was organised to provide a platform for the two leading political parties, the PDP and the APC, to discuss their policies regarding natural resources governance in Nigeria if elected into power. By Juliet Alohan, Abuja

NAN

bombing which killed at least 75 persons and wounded many others. The seven accused persons are: Aminu Ogwuche (alleged mastermind earlier arrested in Sudan and repatriated to Nigeria); Ahmad Abubakar; Mohammed Ishaq; Ya’uSaidu, Anas Isah, Adamu Yusuf and Nasiru Abubakar. Count one reads that the accused persons “conspired to

commit an act of terrorism by driving a Volkswagen Golf car laden with improvised explosive devices and parking same at the motor park which was later detonated and killed about 75 innocent persons and wounded several others’’. According to the prosecution, the offence is contrary to Section 17 of the Terrorism (Prevention) (Amendment) Act 2013, punishable under the same section.

Counts 2, 3, 4 and 5, respectively, relates to their “committing terrorism act, professing to be members of Boko Haram, access to information about the group and failing to inform security agents about them’’. The four counts contravene Section 1 (2) (a), Section 16, Section 8 (a), (b) of the Terrorism (Prevention) (Amendment) Act 2013, punishable under the same sections, accordingly.

short news

‘EFCC’s Declaration Of Nyako And Son Wanted Has Political Undertone’

R-L: Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Adm. Usman Jibrin,Chinese Consul General in Lagos, Mr Liu Kan and Flag Officer commanding Western Naval Command, Rear Adm. Jonathan Ango, at the Arrival of NNS Centenary from China in Lagos, yesterday. PHOTO BY NAN

DSS Quizzes Ex-Bayelsa Governor In Abuja By AGBO-PAUL AUGUSTINE, Abuja With Agency Report

The Department of State Services (DSS) yesterday in Abuja, arrested the former governor of Bayelsa State and chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Timipre Sylva.

According to reports monitored by LEADERSHIP Weekend, the motive and nature of questioning was not disclosed but according to the media aide of Sylva, Dofie Ola, he was questioned by the DSS. Ola told journalists that the exgovernor responded to a request by the DSS and was quizzed, stating

that Sylva went to DSS by himself. “He is a gentleman. He was invited and he has honoured the invitation,” he said. The motive and nature of questioning was not disclosed but according to Ola, he was questioned by the DSS and has since returned to his home in Abuja.

Bayelsa Rally: If You Don’t Like Dickson, You Don’t Like Me – Jonathan Osa Okhomina, Yenagoa

Presidential campaign team of the Peoples Democratic Party in Bayelsa State for President Goodluck Jonathan was yesterday in Bayelsa State where the president cleared the air over the alleged feud between him and the governor saying, “if you don’t like Dickson, you don’t like me.” The presidential rally which was held at the state-owned Samson Siasia Stadium also witnessed rainfall while the president was speaking. Amid thunderous applause from supporters and indigenes of the state, President Goodluck assured that he is elated to be back home and appreciated the total support he had received from the people of the state during his political journey

as a running mate to the former governor, Deprieye Alameisegha and during the 2011 presidential election. According to Jonathan, the relationship between him and the Bayelsa State governor, Hon Seriake Dickson remained good and that anyone who quarrel with the governor should consider it a fight against him. “I am working closely with the Bayelsa State governor and I want you to know that those who don’t like the governor, don’t like me. If you don’t like Dickson, you don’t like me. “I know that a few persons have infuriated your midst and are spreading lies. You must work with the Bayelsa governor. For you to benefit anything from the federal (government), you must

work with him. Don’t allow anybody to deceive you. I am telling you as a brother, uncle and father.” In her speech, the first lady, Dame Patience Jonathan who tactfully avoided any mention of the alleged frosty relationship between her and the Bayelsa State governor, Hon Seriake Dickson, called on the women of the state to intensify prayer for the re-election of her husband based on performance and the fulfilment of the 35 per cent affirmative action for women in the country. Mrs Jonathan called on the Nigerian women to support President Jonathan in order to be ahead in modern technology including the use of computer for their studies as against what she referred to as “analogue” way of life.

Former commissioner of police in Lagos State, Alhaji Abubakar Tsav has faulted the Economic and Financial Crime Commission over the declaration of exAdamawa State governor, Murtala Nyako and his son wanted. Tsav in a statement said that the EFCC seemed to have left the substance to pursue the shadow, saying that the declaration of Nyako and his son wanted has political undertone. According to him, the EFCC had all the opportunity in the world to declare Admiral Nyako and his son wanted in the past but never did so until Nyako’s son emerged as the APC gubernatorial candidate for Adamawa State where the APC is also popular. “Nigeria’s brand of justice is discriminatory in favour of the rich and the influential. They are declaring Nyako and his son wanted while fuel subsidy rogues are walking the streets as free citizens,” he said. By Igho Oyoyo, Abuja

2015 NIGERIAdecides www.election2015.leadership.ng

THE CAMPAIGN FALLOUTS, THRILLS & FRILLS

Advocates Of Election Shift Unrelenting Despite Council Of State’s Decision –APC The All Progressives Congress (APC) has said that in spite of the commendable and patriotic decision of the National Council of State that the 2015 general elections must go on as scheduled, proponents of election shift have not given up on their desperation to scuttle the elections. In a statement issued in Abuja on Friday by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party however said that the desperadoes will always fail in their evil machinations, because no power is strong enough to defeat a determined people. It said the provocative call by the bogus Southern Nigeria Peoples Assembly for the postponement of the elections and the arrest of INEC Chairman Attahiru Jega is one of the new antics of the election postponement campaigners. ‘’It is shameful that those who should be working hard to promote peaceful elections as scheduled are the same ones doing everything possible to trigger violence. Those who should ordinarily be seen as elder statesmen have degenerated to dangerous partisans and shameless promoters of a narrow, parochial interest, at the expense of the national interest. ‘’Who does not know that wherever President Goodluck Jonathan’s interest lies, therein you will find Chief Edwin Clark, whether or not it is in the national interest? Who does not know that the anarchic call by Chief Clark and his cohorts are being made at the behest of a frenzied presidency?’’ the party queried. It also pointed to the irresponsible and divisive statement by PDP Spokesman Olisa Metuh as another indication that those working hard to sink the elections have not given up, wondering why Metuh will make such an incendiary statement that the APC and INEC are working

FACTCHECKER

Buhari

Aggrieved Ondo PDP Faction Accuses Mimiko, INEC Of Imposing Candidates Some aggrieved members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) under the auspices of PDP Candidates Forum of Ondo State have raised the alarm over an impending breakdown of law and order in the state following alleged disobedience of three court orders by Governor Olusegun Mimiko. The chairman of the group and former chairman of the Federal Road Safety Commission, Dr. Olu Agunloye and Secretary, Mr. Femi Adekanbi, after an emergency meeting held in Abuja, stated that the continuous blatant flaunting of court orders on the festering political crisis in the state is capable of degenerating into chaos. They called on security agencies to be on the red alert, as “not even President Goodluck Jonathan can guarantee peace when violence erupts.” Agunloye, a former Minister of Defence on behalf of the PDP members, alleged that despite court pronouncements that the statusquo be maintained concerning the issue of who represents the state in the State Assembly and National Assembly, governor Olusegun Mimiko had gone ahead to introduce candidates from his camp as the authentic PDP candidates for the state.

Still On Power Generation

The All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, blamed the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for the country’s continuing power problems and claimed that there is less electricity now than there was at the end of military rule in 1999. In a speech announcing his decision to run as an opposition candidate in the country’s February 2015 elections, Buhari

said: “When PDP came to power in 1999 Nigeria was generating about 4,000 MW of electricity. After 15 years and $20 billion spent we are generating between 3,000 and 4,000 MW.” The ruling party responded with a sharp rebuttal, stating that “as at May 29 1999, when PDP took office, Nigeria was generating 1,600 MW”, but that today the country generates “4,568 MW of electricity”.

DAYS T OG

PDP Asks Al-Makura To Publish Financial Statement

Buhari

hand in hand to disenfranchise the supporters of the PDP by making sure they do not get Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs), without a shred of evidence beyond sheer emotions. ‘’People like Metuh speak just because they could, not because what they say adds any value to purpose democratic governance. Nigerians are undoubtedly confounded that the spokesman of a ruling party will be fanning the embers of ethnic discord, at such a sensitive time like this. There must be a limit to desperation,’’ APC said. The party further urging Nigerians to repudiate those who will stop at nothing to bring the nation crashing down instead of losing power through the ballot box The party also slammed the Federal Government for striving to scare voters away from the polling booths during the election, which is the implication of the so-called intelligence announced by the DG of the National Orientation Agency and Coordination of the National Information Centre, Mr Mike Omeri. ‘’Saying they got intelligence report that female suicide bombers are planning to attack polling booths during Feb. elections is nothing but scaremongering and wishful thinking. In spite of them, the elections will proceed without violence because Nigerians are ready, willing and able to ensure that.”

COUNTDO W

oddbAlls

Mimiko

It is shameful that those who should be working hard to promote peaceful elections as scheduled are the same ones doing everything possible to trigger violence

NIGERIA DECIDES

Saturday, February 7, 2015

However, according to Africa Check a non-partisan organisation which promotes accuracy in public debate and the media, “Nigeria’s Presidential Task Force on Power recorded generation of 3,800 MW in December 2013. As of 28 October, it was generating 4,327MW. “What Buhari and the PDP disagree on is whether that’s an improvement on 15 years ago. The key here is the difference between

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Nasarawa has lamented Governor Umaru Tanko Almakura’s inability to publish the financial statement of the state since he assumed office four years ago. The gubernatorial candidate of the party, Alhaji Yusuf Agabi, who made the observation in Toto town of Toto local government in continuation of his campaign tour called on the governor to do so in the interest of transparency. He said, Almakura had always laid claims to running a government anchored on probity and transparency yet he has been unable to make public the financial statement of his dealings since assumption of office. “Almakura has always told the people of Nasarawa that his government is without blemish with regard to appropriating public funds, one wonders why he has not been able to furnish us with how he spent our money” he said. Agabi, a chartered accountant, said the state accounting system lacks due process. “Constitutionally people of the state have the right to know how much comes in and how it is expended at the end of every fiscal year”.

Al-Makura

installed generation capacity (the amount the power that could be generated if a plant ran at maximum capacity) and the actual power generated. “According to the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission(NERC), generation in 1999 stood at only 1,750 MW. But installed capacity stood at 5,906 MW (or closer to what Buhari had claimed actual generation stood at).

10 NIGERIA DECIDES

Saturday, February 7, 2015

Elections: How PDP Will Win – Oladipo

voices

National secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Prof Wale Oladipo, gives an insight into how his party will defeat the main opposition, the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the forthcoming elections. He spoke with Chibuzo Ukaibe. Excerpts.

You sound so confident that PDP will win at a time it faces a strong opposition unlike in previous elections? The choice is clear, we have to go ahead with the transformation agenda of Mr. Jonathan, after four years power will go back to the North. And I am sure that there are so many educated brothers of ours in the North who will provide good leadership in this country. There are still many good men and women in the APC particularly from the North that can be given the chance to excel. There is a rising agitation for the postponement of elections, and the opposition, while accusing your party of sponsoring the agitations, believes your party is jittery because it will loose elections if it holds as

scheduled. Is PDP ready for elections?

My answer to that is very simple. Recently, 16 political parties, and quite a number of presidential candidates, as free Nigerian came together and complained about the way the Permanent Voters Card (PVC) was being distributed by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and called for a postponement. There is this tendency of concentrating only on PDP and APC. As much as I appreciate it as national secretary of the PDP, but these other political parties have equal rights as any other party in a democracy. More over, we are not in a military era where you can just decree things into existence. I concede to them that they have the right to air their views as Nigerians. I don’t know the problem of APC. We as PDP were not even in that gathering. We didn’t participate in that discussion, and we are not the kind of people who will go and arrest people for expressing their views. You will recollect that under this administration nobody has been harassed for airing his view What the APC cannot understand is how the PDP has been able to allow people air their views. What those parties did is what we call free speech. They are free to air their views which they have done. However, it is not for political parties to decide whether elections should be postponed or not. It is that of INEC. INEC is in the best position to know whether they are ready or not. The only concern of my party is that INEC must be prepared to the extent that not a single registered Nigerian voter is denied his or her PVC or the opportunity to vote. All registered voters must be allowed to vote. As soon as INEC announces that it has distributed all cards to all eligible voters then INEC is free. For instance, in Ondo State, which is a

stronghold of PDP, INEC few days ago announced that they have distributed alittle above 60 percent. So they want to disenfranchise about 30 percent in our stronghold. Even if it is an APC stronghold I will still condemn it. We have to distribute PVCS to all eligible voters. I am in Ile-Ife, Osun State, as I speak, I have been monitoring things, I went round and most of our people told me that they queued for hours and they still couldn’t collect their cards. INEC must device a way; even if they have to go to worship centres or work all night, but let them distribute all the cards to eligible voters. As soon as they are able to do this then we are ready for election. We are not calling for any postponement of election, but there is also the issue of insecurity. What we are saying and our president has also said it several times that his reelection is not worth the blood of any Nigerian. And on that we stand. Security must be guaranteed but that does not depend on us but on the security agencies, the possibility of voting itself must be guaranteed and that also depends on INEC. Unfortunately for APC we don’t control these institutions unlike them who control the electoral institutions in their states, where for instance, an election won by Musiliu Obanikoro’s son was annulled and an election won by PDP in Edo was also annulled. But I can guarantee you that if election holds now we will win. They are just propagandists. They are preparing Nigerians for a situation where PDP will win again and they will take to the streets that they should have won. That is unpatriotic. We are not calling for anything. Let INEC and the security agencies be up and doing that is all we are saying.

Oladipo

ANSWERS

QUIZ TEST YOUR POLITICAL IQq 1. Who was the pioneer chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)? 2. How many politi-

cal parties are in Nigeria? 3. How many parties merged to form the All Progressives Congress

(APC)? 4. Who was the last national chairman of the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria?

5. Under which political party did Imo State’s Governor Rochas Okorocha get elected in 2011?

1. Chief Solomon Lar 2. 26 3. 4 4.Chief Bisi Akande 5. APGA

It’s few days to the election and some of your governors have been accused of working with the opposition, a case in point being the case in Bauchi. Isn’t this a cause for alarm? I don’t think there is a cause for alarm because no governor of ours will work with the APC, we have committed governors whom we are proud of. On the specific case you mentioned, Governor Isa Yuguda is not only a leader of the party in the state he is also a trusted ally of the president. He is also a senatorial candidate of our party. How can a potential senator be hobnobbing with the opposition? Our party has confidence in Yuguda, he is a party man. He is someone who has gone through the tutelage of our national chairman and they have been working hand in hand with the president. The FCT minister, Bala Mohammed is also a strong party man. In a large family like ours, there are bound to be conflicts but we have mechanisms for dealing with those issues. Whatever the grievances that may exist between them we as a party will resolve it. This issue should not be blown out of proportion, we are sure we will win the senatorial candidate and other positions in the state and Mr President will have a wonderful showing there.

We Will No Longer Condone OppositionSponsored Protests – PDP

Metuh

“Our attention has been drawn to a text message being circulated by a nebulous group under the name, Save Democracy Youth Movement, calling on the Minister of Petroleum and the Minister of Finance to tender their resignations before the 11th of February 2015, citing unfounded allegations as reason. “We have information that this unwarranted attack is sponsored by the opposition who also has plans to follow up the text messages with sponsored protests in Abuja and Lagos to further heat-up the system ahead of the February 14, 2015 general elections. “From all indications, this senseless attack is aimed at demonizing our women folk who have been playing key roles

in the laudable achievements of President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration. Indeed, it bears the full imprints of the opposition which has not hidden its aversion to women holding important positions in our country, in keeping with their ideology which prescribes that no woman, no matter how brilliant should be heard or seen. “Furthermore, we invite Nigerians to note the timing of the text message and the planned protest, merely few days before the February 14 election date. This leaves no one in doubt about the plot by the opposition to stir up civil unrests ahead of the polls as part of the greater agenda to scuttle the electoral process.”

trending Nigerians continue to react on twitter over moves to postpone the elections. Enjoy. Abdularaqu O Hamzat WE HAVE NO REASON TO POSTPONE ELECTION In the history of Nigeria, the highest number of voters ever recorded in... http://t.co/ EBW1V0zi4o Simon Ateba. Crucial Meeting In #Nigeria Ends, But Judge Might Postpone Election - http://t.co/ OrgADn97Tn Tosin It shld be entrenched in our constitution that any Nigeria president that try to postpone election or tenors elongatn shld risk 50yr jail Ugonna Ajugiobi Business is slow in Nigeria &amp; deals are stalled because election is coming. Let’s get it done &amp;no one should dare postpone it. @WahidSaka Ikoku C14 Gej. @ogundamisi are you telling us if @inecnigeria has reason to postpone the election, you will lead crisis/unleash violence in Nigeria?

Awal Gonga @ogundamisi are you telling us if @inecnigeria has reason to postpone the election, you will lead crisis/unleash violence in Nigeria? Babyboy What if dey postpone d election date in #Nigeria frm February to March sorry #APC is it #marchiary Now or you gona remain loyal to #feBuhari STermined @oselu_omoye @doyinokupe @ Osi_Suave See The Mammoth Crowd That Turn Out For Buhari’s Rally In Lagos Abu Tasneem @Tesguru @doyinokupe ok let’s watch out then. You’ll see how the people’s General will stun President Jonathan and the entire PDP. Stocha @myd4sta @doyinokupe where were u when GMB was Head of State.? Someone like u OKUPE can only survive in a corrupt government. ur days are numbered. Stocha @myd4sta @doyinokupe @Tesguru May u live long to witness the victory of GMB/PYO in ur so called IPERU.. amin.

NIGERIA DECIDES 11

Saturday, February 7, 2015

NUMBERS 3 Number of states where elections will not hold in some parts because of insurgency

Rivers State Peace Accord

➔Chekwa Okorie The reasons given by the proponents of the postponement that a great number of Nigerians will be disenfranchised having not been given their Permanent Voters Card (PVC) which will enable them to participate in the election is a contrived reason and to a large extent pedestrian.

2 Number of clergymen that All Progressives Congress presidential candidate, Gen Muhammadu Buhari, has picked as vice-presidential candidate. He picked Pastor Tunde Bakare of Latter Rain Assembly as his running mate in 2011 and presently has Prof Yemi Osinbajo, a pastor in Redeemed Christian Church of God, as his running mate for February polls. 4 Number of times General Buhari has contested for the post of president at the general elections. He contested in the 2003, 2007, 2011 and 2015 elections 15 Number of states under opposition governors in Nigeria. 21 Number of states under governorship of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party 1 Number of open letters written by former president, Gen Olusegun Obasanjo, to President Goodluck Jonathan, criticising his governance.

QUOTES

Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship candidate in Rivers State, Mr Nyesom Wike and his All Progressives Congress (APC) counterpart, Mr Dakuku Peterside, in an embrace after reaching a peace accord in Port Harcourt on Thursday.

Accord Party Adopts Jonathan As Presidential Candidate The National Working Committee of the Accord Party yesterday adopted President Goodluck Jonathan as its candidate for the February 14 Presidential election. The party also joined its voice to the growing ranks of political parties that are opposed to the shifting of the February 14 Presidential election. Addressing a world press conference at its National Secretariat in Abuja, the party’s National Secretary, Adisa Oladapo Nureni stated that: “We (Accord Party) wish to associate ourselves with those in this country who are saying a tacit no to the growing moves to shift the date of the elections. “As a political party which has sampled the mood of our numerous candidates and supporters nationwide, a polls shift in our opinion will only prolong the suffering of the masses without necessarily changing the political balance existing between the two major contenders for

INECWATCH

the Presidential election. “We are therefore of the opinion that INEC should receive recommendation for being proactive on the issue of PVCs distribution and for insisting that timetable for the elections is not tampered with’’, he said. On Accord Party adoption of President Jonathan, the National Secretary said: “The mandate to enter into talks with the PDP was borne out of the motivation of our numerous candidates most of whom crossed over to our party from the PDP and who also believe that President Jonathan remains a better candidate for the Presidential elections and deserve to be supported by Accord. Nureni disclosed that after much brainstorming by the Working Committee and other stakeholders of the party, the following considerations were counted for President Jonathan: “His administration has pro-

He is giving his all in the fight against insurgency in the Northeastern part of Nigeria and has effectively rallied the entire country into seeing the terrorists as enemies of the country among other reasons

moted and preserved the corporate entity of the Federal Republic Republic of Nigeria; The economy under his watch has witnessed appreciable growth; His transformation agenda is making a desirable impact in transforming the nation’s infrastructure. “He is giving his all in the fight against insurgency in the Northeastern part of Nigeria and has effectively rallied the entire country into seeing the terrorists as enemies of the country among other reasons. On whether the party considered what many perceive as the President’s lukewarm attitude towards corruption and insecurity before adopting him, Nureni said the President has shown the will to fight corruption, but the bulk rests with the Judiciary to do its work. –By Edegbe Odemwingie, Abuja

➔ National Secretary of PDP, Prof Wale Oladipo. The only take of my party is that INEC must be prepared to the extent that not a single registered Nigerian voter is denied his or her PVC or the opportunity to vote. All registered voters must be allowed to vote.

➔ Governor Babatunde Fashola. The desired prosperity and the brighter rewarding future being sought after by the people, both for themselves and for their children, would be determined by their willingness to sacrifice time to key into the election process by collecting their Permanent Voter Cards for the elections.

Elections: INEC Meets RECs, Political Parties Today

In compliance with the advise of the national council of states over the preparations for the elections, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) will today meet with political parties and Resident Electoral Commissioners (RECs) to iron out thorny issues over the polls.

Chief press secretary to the INEC chairman, Kayode Idowu, told LEADERSHIP Weekend yesterday. The Council of State, after a marathon meeting on Thursday urged INEC to proceed with its assignment of conducting the 2015 general elections scheduled to begin

on February 14, 2015. INEC was also advised to consult widely with stakeholders and come up with a decision that they will brief the nation soon. He said “I am aware that the commission will meet with Resident Electoral Commissioners (RECs) and the political parties

tomorrow (today)”. Asked about the meeting with the security agencies to ascertain the outcome of the election “these meeting are part of the consultation with stakeholders as advised by the council of states.” By Chibuzo Ukaibe, Abuja

Saturday, February 7, 2015

Congratulations I Dr Abdullahi Liman Danmaliki,on behalf of myself and my entire family, We rejoice and felicitate with the Emir of Kano Mallam Muhammad Sanusi II, the Kano Emirate council and the entire people of Kano state on his official Coronation as the eleventh Fulani Emir of Kano. We are proud to be associated with his Royal Highness. ALLAH YA JA ZAMANIN SARKI.

SIGNED:

Dr Abdullahi Liman Danmaliki Danmalikin Hausa Sarkin Kudun Pantami For the family.

MALLAM MUHAMMAD SANUSI II Emir of Kano

NADASHI GROUP

Congratulations On behalf of the Management and entire staff of NADASHI GROUP OF COMPANIES, I Dr Abdullahi Liman Danmaliki rejoice and felicitate with the Emir of Kano Mallam Muhammad Sanusi II,the Kano Emirate council and the entire people of Kano state on his official Coronation as the eleventh Fulani Emir of Kano. We are proud to be associated with his Royal Highness. ALLAH YA JA ZAMANIN SARKI. Signed: Dr Abdullahi Liman Danmaliki Danmalikin Hausa Sarkin Kudun Pantami For the family.

MALLAM MUHAMMAD SANUSI II

Emir of Kano

Saturday, February 7, 2015

weekend politics Saturday, February 7, 2015

Weekend Politics Editor: Chibuzo ukaibE

The Politics Of Election Postponement In this write up, CHIBUZO UKAIBE looks at the intrigues playing out over the calls for postponement of election scheduled to begin next Saturday

he declaration by the national security adviser, Col Sambo Dasuki, for the postponement of the election, seems to be more of a clarion call to others who share his thinking than a personal evaluation of the situation from a privileged position. After his advice for the elections to be postponed because in his estimation, the distribution of permanent voters’ cards (PVCs), agitation for postponement has since taken a life of its own. The kernel of the argument is built around whether or not the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) can deliver on the distribution of the PVCs with less than seven days to the elections. While the commission, through the chief press secretary to the INEC chairman, Kayode Idowu, declared that about 65 per cent of PVCs have been distributed so far, it said cards for the 68 million eligible voters have been produced and distributed. Nevertheless, the vicinity of the INEC has since become a regular spot for those calling for the postponement of the polls. While the presidency has since denied any moves to postpone the election, the two main political parties are locked in claims and counter claims over the situation. However, the APC believes that the agitations for postponement are instigated by the PDP because they have become jittery that they would lose the elections if it holds as scheduled. The PDP on their part, have accused the APC of pushing a propaganda on the postponement plot, insisting that while they are ready for elections on the scheduled dates, all eligible voters must get their PVCs and vote. However, the postponement saga has now extended to other political parties who have been relegated to the background. On Tuesday, 16 out of the 26 registered political parties in

the country endorsed calls for a shift of dates for the polls. They cited insecurity, issues with the distribution of permanent voters’ cards (PVCs) and the exodus of people from the cities to their villages as bases. Similarly, five of the 14 presidential candidates signed a statement for INEC to postpone the elections to a more appropriate date. The parties are the United Democratic Party (UDP), Citizen Peoples Party (CPP), Peoples Party of Nigeria (PPN), Action Alliance (AA), Peoples Democratic Congress (PDC), Allied Party of Nigeria (ACPN), Labour Party (LP), Mega Progressive Peoples Party (MPPP), United Party of Nigeria (UPN), Alliance for Democracy (AD), African Democratic Congress (ADC), Advanced Congress of Democrats (ACD), Democratic Peoples Party (DPP), New Nigerian Peoples Party (NNPP), Peoples Party of Nigeria (PPN) and Independent Democrat (ID). Equally, the five presidential candidates who endorsed the postponement are Godson Okoye (UDP), Chief Sam Okoye (CPP), Prince C.O Allagoe (PPN), Tunde Anifowose (AA) and Ganiu Galadima (ACPN). The political parties in a resolution calling for the postponement said, “Fellow Nigerians, we the concerned leaders of political parties, in the run up to the February 2015 general election, have observed some dangerous trends, which if not checked may negatively and adversely affect our democracy.” They also threatened to boycott the elections if their position was not respected. The leaders of the 16 parties called on the federal government to take the necessary steps to provide adequate security for Nigerians to go out and collect their PVCs in order to be able to exercise their civic and constitutional duty. The parties said INEC should seriously consider shifting the date

Jega

of elections to sometime in March or April, which would still not be against the provisions of Sections 25 and 26 of the Electoral Act. “We are not urging INEC to do anything that is unlawful, illegal or unconstitutional. It is unfortunately becoming clear by the day that most Nigerians appear not to be ready for election but are ready for violence,” the parties said. On what the shift in date would achieve, the parties said, “this shift in date, which does not in any way contravene the provisions of Section 25 and 26 of the Electoral Act will afford INEC enough time to distribute the remaining PVCs so that at least more than 98 per cent of the registered voters in the country would have collected their PVCs. “In this regard the concerned political leaders should offer to assist the INEC in all necessary

ways to ensure that these PVCs are collected on time for the rescheduled election.” One of the representatives of the political parties said they took the decision against the position of the chairman of Inter-party Advisory Council (IPAC). According to him, the IPAC chairman, Dr Tanko Yunusa, had overruled them at the last meeting with INEC. The party chieftain alleged that because the IPAC chairman has an alliance with the All Progressives Congress (APC), he insisted that the elections must hold as scheduled. Okoye who read the statement on behalf of the political parties, also expressed disappointment over the visit of the US Secretary of State, John Kerry, to only two presidential candidates and that the presidential debate centred on the APC

This Week On Backlash

A key point of the Peoples Democratic Party’s (PDP) bragging rights for their second term agenda is what they call the revolution of the agricultural sector, and so when the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) called the acclaimed achievements by the PDP in that sector a ruse, the ruling party replied saying the distortion of facts by the opposition on that sector > 66 was unfortunate.

> 67

It is unfortunately becoming clear by the day that most Nigerians appear not to be ready for election but are ready for violence

weekend politics 19

Saturday, February 7, 2015

Backlash

PDP’s Fertiliser Scheme, Excessively Laborious, Technically Difficult For Farmers – APC

The grim reality on the ground today is that Nigeria emerged as the world’s highest importer of rice in 2015

he All Progressives Congress presidential campaign organisation on Sunday described President Goodluck Jonathan administration’s acclaimed success in the agriculture sector as a ruse. Director of media and publicity of the campaign team, Garba Shehu, said the woeful performance of the Jonathan administration in the agricultural sector was evident from its failure to fulfill its promise that Nigeria would be self-sufficient in rice and wheat production by 2015. “President Jonathan has failed woefully in the agricultural sector, and all the self-praise of the administration on agriculture is simply a ruse,” the statement read in part.

The party further picked holes in the claim of the federal government that farmers were now having unhindered access to fertiliser through the Growth Enhancement Scheme. On the contrary, the campaign group said, what was getting to each farmer under the e-wallet arrangement, described as “excessively labourious and technically difficult for the farmers to work through,” were two bags of fertiliser throughout the entire farming season. It added, “Government has not come out in one instance to tell Nigerians how much it receives as grants on fertiliser distribution to farmers from donor agencies.” “The government will want to give us the impression that fertiliser is being given to farmers free of charge. But we know that

Shehu

what subsists is a 50 per cent subsidy per bag of fertiliser. Our farmers are being shortchanged under this so-called e-wallet arrangement because of lack of transparency. “We may be looking at another subsidy scam over fertiliser unless the Jonathan administration comes out clean to tell us how much it has received as grants over fertiliser and how it comes about the

50 per cent subsidy per bag of fertiliser.” It stated that President Jonathan had promised in 2010 to make Nigeria self-sufficient in rice and wheat production by 2015, however, “the grim reality on the ground today is that Nigeria emerged as the world’s highest importer of rice in 2015, and a whopping $11bn is spent annually by Nigeria to import rice, wheat, sugar and fish.”

The Politics of Election Postponement 65

presidential candidate, MajorGeneral Muhammadu Buhari and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate, President Goodluck Jonathan. Countering the position of their colleagues, a group of 10 political parties, under the aegis of Coalition of Progressive Political Parties (COPP), warned against the shift of the elections. The declaration by the 10 political parties come two days after 16 other political parties called for the postponement of the elections. The political parties include Peoples Democratic Movement (PDM), African Peoples Alliance (APA), Kowa Party, Mega Progressive People’s Party (MPPP), Social Democratic Party (SDP), African Democratic Congress (ADC), Hope Democratic Party (HDP), Democratic Peoples Party (DPP), United Progressive Party (UPP) and Accord Party. Addressing a press conference in Abuja, spokesperson of the group and national chairman of the Peoples Democratic Movement (PDM), Bashir Ibrahim said any attempt to postpone the poll would “plunge our country into anarchy.” He said, “we the under signed, on behalf of our political parties, are shocked at the conduct of

some of our colleagues who have joined the infamous campaign to scuttle Nigeria’s hard-earned democracy by calling for the postponement of the general election barely a week before the election is to commence. We condemn, in the strongest terms possible, this underhand and undemocratic tactic meant to plunge our country into anarchy, on top of the debilitating state of insecurity which has become pervasive in the land. “The call for the postponement of the general election has nothing to do with the preparedness of the Independent National Electoral Commission to conduct the election or the pace of distribution and collection of permanent voters’ cards. INEC, the authority empowered by law to fix the date of the election had said, countless times that it is ready and prepared to conduct a free, fair and credible election on February 14 and 28. As a matter of fact, Prof Attahiru Jega, chairman of INEC and his colleagues in the commission had stated many times that they had four years to prepare for the election and they will deliver better election this time around. “The military led by the Chief of Defence Staff had guaranteed

Any attempt to postpone the poll would “plunge our country into anarchy Jonathan

adequate security on land and air for a successful and safe conduct of the 2015 general election. This ought to have settled the fears about the security of lives and property as well as of the electorates and INEC officials. Governors and citizens of the states under attack by insurgents have not complained either

to the Independent National Electoral Commission or the executive and legislative arms of government that their citizens will be disenfranchised if elections were held in their states. “The call for the postponement of the general election is therefore, a call orchestrated by one of the

20 weekend politics

Saturday, February 7, 2015

the lashback

14 million Farmers Now Have Easy Access To Fertiliser Directly- PDP

What has APC to say to the fact that under Jonathan, over 2.7 million farm jobs have been created

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has condemned the All Progressives Congress (APC) for allegedly distorting the facts on verifiable achievements of President Goodluck Jonathan in agriculture, saying such has, “clearly confirmed that the opposition party is a party of liars and desperate individuals. The PDP national publicity secretary, Olisa Metuh, said it was unfortunate that the APC has deliberately refused to accept the unprecedented successes recorded in agriculture under President Jonathan, as demonstrated in the quantum leap in domestic food production for which the nation has received international applause. He said: “That President Goodluck Jonathan has repositioned the agriculture sector, repositioned agriculture from the traditional subsistence occupation to an investment-driven, wealth and job-creating sector that guarantees food security remains incontrovertible and no amount of lies from APC propaganda machine can distort this fact. “Why should the APC seek to distort the fact that under Pres-

Metuh

ident Jonathan, Nigeria has expanded domestic production by additional 21 metric tonnes to exceed its 20 million metric tonnes target set for 2015, a feat which earned the nation a special award by the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations? “What has APC to say to the fact that under Jonathan, over

2.7 million farm jobs have been created, boosting production in various agricultural sub-sectors to rank our great country as one of the biggest food producers in Africa?” The PDP spokesman wondered if the APC was unhappy that under President Jonathan, genuine Nigerian farmers now had direct access to fertilisers,

seedlings and other farm inputs through special intervention initiatives, such as the e-wallet system, which allows as much as 14 million farmers to access fertilisers directly using their mobile phones. He queried: “Should the APC be unhappy that millions of our farmers have been empowered to enjoy bumper harvests and that private sector investments are thriving as a result of the investment-friendly environment created by the Jonathan administration? “What has the APC to say to the massive investments in staple food production including the 105, 000 metric tonnes capacity integrated rice mill commissioned by President Jonathan at Olams rice farm in Rukubi, Doma, Nasarawa State as well as the investment of USD1billion in commercial rice production and processing by the Dangote Group with the encouragement of the federal government? “Indeed, Nigerians are worried that the APC has continued to show its unwritten manifesto of attempting to run-down projects for the benefit of ordinary Nigerians.

The Politics of Election Postponement 19

political parties which has continued to invest huge sums of money to ensure the elections do not hold as scheduled, out of fear of losing power for the first time since 1999. Our democracy has come of age and Nigerians are ready for change, we will not allow desperation and powermongering to scuttle it and will do whatever is necessary to defend it and ensure that the general election holds as scheduled. “We call on the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, not to be intimidated by desperate elements and to proceed with its preparations for the general election as scheduled. We assure INEC we shall stand by it, shoulder to shoulder, to ensure our democracy is not undermined. We urge all major stakeholders, especially well-meaning Political Parties and their Presidential candidates, the Independent National Electoral Commission and the National Assembly as well as all the

security agencies in the country to stand together to ensure that the 2015 General Election is conducted as scheduled and guarantee that Nigeria survives to face another general election in 2019. “We call on friends of Nigeria and the International community at large to stand with Nigeria in these very trying times and put pressure on the authorities to comply with the timetable of democratic elections as released by INEC. We call on Nigerians to be vigilant and protect their hard-earned democracy and their freedom to choose those who will govern them. Nigerians must know freedom is not given on a platter of gold. It is earned and, like all truly democratic nations, the time has come for us to earn our freedom from those whose agenda is to subjugate us for sixty uninterrupted years whether we like it or not. The alternative to this is to allow ourselves and our children to be

enslaved by those who do not wish us and our country well. “These are trying times. This is not the first time desperate and undesirable elements come together to scuttle our democracy for their selfish ends. We remember June 12, 1993 and the role played by these elements to scuttle Nigeria’s democracy and the chain of events which ensued. It is not surprising that the same characters are again at work. If Nigerians would look closely, they will realize these characters are still around and have coalesced in the same political party, which is now leading this charge to postpone the elections without credible and acceptable explanation other than the fear of losing power for the first time. What is our democracy worth if some shadowy and anti-democratic interests can come together and change the rule in the middle of the game? “As Nigerians, we can seize the opportunity of this moment

to settle the question of “To Who Does Power Belong?” once and for all or allow the opportunity to slip through the cracks and continue to live as victims of our own indifference. The choice is ours to make and the time to make that choice is now. Let our slogan from today be, on February 14 we stand.” However, while both sets of political parties have denied affiliation with either the PDP or the APC, it remains doubtful in the face of endorsements by some of the parties’ presidential candidates. Moreover, while the possibility of getting 100 per cent collection is debatable, the seeming apathy and slow response to collect cards, particularly in the southern part of the country is another matter. In any case, both sides of the debate agree that INEC has the constitutional prerogative to either go ahead with the elections on the scheduled date or not.

The choice is ours to make and the time to make that choice is now. Let our slogan from today be, on February 14 we stand

Saturday, February 7, 2015

BAUCHI STATE GOVERNMENT

Congratulations To San Kano

On behalf of the good people of Bauchi State, I, Alhaji Dr. Isa Yuguda, Executive Governor of Bauchi State, heartily felicitate with Your Highness, Alhaji Muhammadu Sanusi II on your coronation today as the 14th Emir of Kano. We pray to Almighty Allah to bless you with wisdom to lead the people aright. May your reign be associated with abundant blessings for the people.

Congratulations!

HIS HIGHNESS

ALH. MUHAMMADU SANUSI II

Emir of Kano

Alhaji (Dr.) Isa Yuguda Executive Governor, Bauchi State (Matawallen Bauchi, Ardon Cikin Gidan Dukku, Obasayero of Oyo Empire)

Saturday, February 7, 2015

ISSUE 171 FEbrUary 7, 2015.

StuFF mAShABle'S memOrABle tV And mOVie BOSSeS

>32

SPOrtS BrAndS AdAmu mu BellO

Doyen of agriculture

The obscene spending of Katie Price The $68.4m star spent $152,132 on new set of teeth, $684,596 on three weddings and claimed a return trip between Sussex and London for her autistic son can cost $1,521.

trended Nicole Scherzinger splits from Lewis Hamilton for the 4th time

deSirABleS

Beyoncé unveils vegan delivery service

tOP ten

Africa’s longest serving presidents

Saturday, February 7, 2015

Know-all

THAT'S inSide THiS iSSue

34 sTuff

BELIEVE THIS! In ancient China they believed that drinking mercury after sex could prevent pregnancy.

28 TRENDED

35 KEYED QuEsTION

30 whAT's up?

29 TOp TEN STarTIng BLockS 27 proUdLY nIGerIa

• Adamu Bello Doyen of agriculture

28 trended

• Nicole Scherzinger splits from Lewis Hamilton for the 4th time

STuFF

THE BIg STorY

31 deSpotS and dIctatorS

• Undisputed king, Nike

32 StUff

• Most popular Adidas

• Mashable's memorable TV and movie bosses

33 forbIdden knoWLedGe • Make a water bomb

34 artIcULate

29 top ten

• Africa’s longest serving presidents

• Italian artist Daniele's incredible hand painting

30 What'S Up

• Can divorce be good for children?

• Interesting facts you need to know about the 2015 Oscar nominees

37 SportS brandS

• Chad’s Hissene Habre

35 keYed QUeStIon

36 doerS

• The obscene spending of Katie Price

• • • • • • •

Highly innovative Reebok Creative Puma Innovative Umbro Reputable Fila Responsive Under Armour Versatile Kappa Philanthropic ASICS

38 other SportS brandS • • • • •

Burrda Hummel International Lotto Warrior Joma

THE rEguLarS

44 DREss sENsE BoXED

• Believe this • Fact Box, Do You Remember When? Strictly For JJCs 44 cULtUred! • Etiquettewise, Superstitions, • Shocking Foodfacts • Psychology Ideas, Useless Proverbs, Excusez moi Information, Business 45 deSIrabLeS Blunder, Quick Quiz, 46 MIndfUL • Espionage, Discovered • Crossword, WordSearch, • Sounding Clever, Sudoku, Homework, Sounding Great, Spotlights, Bookshelf • Know Why, 47 a La carte • Celeb Info, Teeny • Crazy Tricks, Gentleman's • Fascinating Facts, Words, Laugh-Out-Loud • Keepsakes, 48 bonUS pack • Just Unbelievable, Fast • Seen & Overhead, English Forward Phrases, Keepsakes

43 techLIfe

• Click Click,

Buzzstop NBC Nightly News anchor, Brian Williams apologised Wednesday for incorrectly claiming as recently as last week that he rode on a helicopter that came under enemy fire when he was reporting in Iraq in 2003. According to a Thursday report, Jordan’s King Abdullah apparently said he would deal with IS in the way Clint Eastwood’s character acts in the Hollywood movie, Unforgiven, especially where Eastwood’s character at some point said, “Any man I see out there, I’m gonna kill him’’. More than a million Hindus thronged temples throughout Asia to celebrate Thaipusam, reports said Tuesday. The colourful religious festival celebrated annually sees many Thais’ display their devotion by piercing their bodies with hooks and skewers. Top-ranked Serena Williams, coming off her

19th Grand Slam singles title at the Australian Open, said Wednesday she will end a 14-year boycott of the Indian Wells WTA tournament. New president of Sri Lanka, Maithripala Sirisena vowed to end Sri Lanka’s pariah status in an address to the nation to mark the country’s 67th anniversary of independence on Wednesday. Paris Hilton’s youngest brother was charged Tuesday with interfering with a flight crew on a trip from London during which authorities say he called other passengers peasants and made children cry with his death threats and profane tirades. Argentina’s President Cristina Kirchner has risked offending her Chinese hosts, appearing to poke fun on Twitter at their difficulty pronouncing the letters ‘L’ and ‘R’ in Spanish, reports said Thursday.

North Korea on Wednesday ruled out resuming dialogue with the ‘gangster-like’ United States, and vowed to respond to any US aggression with nuclear strikes and cyber warfare. Taiwan rescuers scoured a river for 12 people still missing from a TransAsia plane crash Thursday, as the pilot, who died in the crash, was hailed a hero for apparently battling to avoid hitting built-up areas. The Philippines protested to Beijing on Wednesday after a Chinese coast guard ship allegedly rammed and damaged three Philippine fishing boats at a disputed shoal in the South China Sea. Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe, 90, fell down steps from a podium after speaking to supporters upon his return from Ethiopia, reports said Thursday.

Content Victoria Usman, Abisola Alawode, Love Adeyemi, Faith Kure DeSIGn/LAYoUt Matthew Akhabue ACTING EDITOR Catherine Agbo

group

FoUnDeR Sam nda-Isaiah GRoUP MAnAGInG DIReCto DIReCtoR Azubuike Ishiekwene GRoUP eXeCUtIVe DIReCtoRS Michael okpere, Dr Kazeem Durodoye FeeDbACK AnD MAILS Cognoscenti is published as an insert in LEADERSHIP Weekend. A number of the articles in this pullout are sourced from diverse sources. Please do send your feedback and enquiries to cognoscenti@leadership.ng or send us a tweet @LeCognoscenti

Saturday, February 7, 2015

StartingBlocks According to Open Signal, (a cell phone signal start up) Nigeria has the highest users of dual SIM devices in the world.

AfricAnFacts

THE PACESETTING PAGES

The museum of Islamic Art located in Cairo Egypt is the largest Islamic museum in the world.

maryam Augie’s positive philanthropic drive

Proudly Nigeria AdAmu Bello

doyen of agriculture Adamu Bello’s achievements in the banking sector as well as the ministry of agriculture where he served as minister speak volumes. His effective service in this portfolio made him the longest serving minister of agriculture. Former minister of agriculture, Adamu Bello was only five years old when his father died in 1956. Coming from a background of educated people (his father died as a justice), he knew he had to go to school and go to school he did under the watchful eyes of his elder brother former justice Aminu Bello who assumed responsibility of young Adamu following the death of their father. After his primary and secondary education, the Adamawa State born technocrat went to Ahmadu Bello University Zaria for a Bachelor of Science degree in economics. He graduated in 1975. An accomplished banker, Mallam Bello started his career in 1976 as an Investment Executive with the New Nigerian Development Company (NNDC). Between 1976 and 1981, he rose to become the General Manager of New-Devco Finance, a subsidiary of NNDC. In 1983, Mallam Bello joined Habib Bank as Deputy Managing Director and rose to become Managing Director and Chief Executive in 1988. He held the position until 1994. During his time at Habib Bank, the bank rose to become the best rated private bank in the country and ninth overall. He then proceeded to become a financial adviser, a real estate mogul and major shareholder in numerous ventures until his nomination as the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Intercity Bank Plc in 1998. This was then followed

Bello

by his appointment as the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Habib Nigeria Bank Ltd in 1999. Having been the first indigenous Chief Executive Officer of the company, he knew the direction of the bank and served to his full capacity. It was from this position that he received his nomination as the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development by former President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo in January 2001. Having reached the pinnacle of his banking career, he accepted the national assignment. Habib Bank

later merged with Platinum Bank in December 2005 to form Bank PHB. Intercity Bank also merged to become Unity Bank Plc under the banking industry consolidation exercise. During Mallam Bello’s tenure, the ministry became a true force in regulating and ensuring the attractiveness of the Nigerian agricultural sector. There were also been the invitations of numerous agricultural experts to improve the operation of the sector in general. The general positive direction of the agricultural sector reinforced President Obasanjo’s re-nomination of Bello to retain his position after being reelected in May 2003. With the support of the then president, also a farmer, Mallam Bello was able to accomplish many initiatives to better the conditions of the Nigerian farmer. Mallam Adamu Bello was conferred with the chieftaincy title of the ‘Dan Iyan Adamawa’ in 1989 by the chieftaincy council of his native Gongola State (now Adamawa and Taraba States) at the time. In 2003, he also received another chieftaincy title; ‘Otun Babalakin’ in Ekiti State. Mallam Bello is a recipient of numerous leadership awards and also got various nominations for Minister of the Year Award by numerous media bodies in Nigeria.

STricTlY for JJcs Be vigilant when making online purchases Paul Barrington, 38, thought he had bagged a bargain when he bought the $2,294 Apple MacBook for $458 to set up a wedding DJ business. But all that arrived at his seaside home a few days later was a 'light as a feather' cardboard box with a picture of the laptop inside it. Mr Barrington was forced to give up surfing and his job in childcare after developing the lung condition bullous emphysema, which causes shortness of breath. He hoped to forge a new business as a DJ at wedding receptions, using the computer to arrange his playlists and run his accounts during regular trips to hospital. With the money from his last surfboard, he ordered the MacBook from eBay - but all he

received was a small square box. 'I sold my pride and joy for a piece of paper,' he said. eBay insisted similar frauds were rare - but Mr Barrington was not the first victim to receive a piece of paper. A father who bought a 'bargain' XBox One on eBay was shocked to receive a grainy printed photo of one instead. Peter Clatworthy, 19, has the same shock after he spent a year saving up to buy a limited edition XBox One for his son McKenzie's fourth Christmas. The student, was duped in December 2013 by an advert which said 'XBox One FIFA Day One Edition, Photo Brand New UK 2012' - referring only to a sheet of A4 paper. He paid $688 and the auction site seller even wrote

'thank you for your purchase' on the back. An eBay spokesman said: 'I can confirm that this type of incident is very rare and is also covered by eBay Money Back Guarantee. 'We were very sorry to hear about Mr Barrington’s unusual experience. We’ll make sure he gets a refund as soon as possible and investigate the circumstances around this sale.' Despite the assurance by the company, this doesn’t mean prospective customers shouldn’t be wary about buying anything online. Among the ways one can avoid being a victim of such scams is to read the advertorial of the product you intend to purchase very, very well.

A nominee for the Future Awards in advocacy and activism in 2013, Maryam Augie has definitely earned her stripes as a respected philanthropist. Through her nonprofit organisation, AYAHAY Foundation, she has contributed immensely to improving the lives of underprivileged people in Nigeria through the provision of quality healthcare and education, as well as skills acquisition. Maryam had her primary education in Sokoto State, before moving back to Lagos where she was born. She then attended the prestigious Queen’s College, Yaba and later proceeded to Federal Government Girls’ College, Gusau, Zamfara State, to complete her secondary school education. She has a Bachelor’s of Science degree in International Business from National American University, Sharjah, UAE and a master’s degree in business administration from Ehsal University, Brussels. According to her, AYAHAY Foundation (The Action to Yield Aid to Hopeful Adults and the Young) was established after two of her close friends, Fatima and Aisha Yahaya, died in a car accident. Maryam recognises the importance of education, she believes it accelerates growth and progress by providing a platform for awareness and enlightenment of people. But she points out that educating women and the girl child is a major challenge in the nation. “The significance of girls’ education cannot be over emphasised. Educated women are likely to use better health services and have healthy children. Educated girls can make better lifestyle decisions and contribute to the economic growth of their nation. It also provides them the opportunity to make the right choices in life,” she explains. Speaking recently at an event organised by the foundation in support of victims of the Boko Haram insurgency, she also talked about the violence currently happening in the northern part of the country. “If we’re not careful, from the way this violence is going, each person is going to know somebody that knows somebody that has been affected by this crisis. So how do we come together in the spirit of unity?” “How do we change the discourse from all the destruction and the deaths to all the survivors?” This is among the many questions Maryam and her foundation work tirelessly to solve.

Saturday, February 7, 2015

StartingBlocks

52,000,000 Number of tourists that visited New York City in 2012.

400,000,000 Number of Harry Potter books that have been sold worldwide as of 2008.

The BuzzworThy sTuff oNLINe

Trended Nicole Scherzinger splits from Lewis Hamilton for the 4th time The 36-yearold singer has parted ways from the Formula One champion, 30, due to the pressures of a long-distance relationship, and is said to be ‘heartbroken and devastated’ at seeing the couple’s seven-year on-off romance come to an end once again. A source close to the star told MailOnline: ‘It was a mutual decision. The long distance kept them apart for long periods of time. ‘They both spent most of their time alone because they were in different countries all the time. Nicole is heartbroken and devastated.’ Nicole primarily resides in Los Angeles, while Lewis is based in Monaco.

Doctors say there’s little they can do to Save Whitney Houston’s daughter The prognosis does not look good for Bobbi Kristina Brown. The daughter of Bobby Brown and the late Whitney Houston was found unconscious and face down in a bathtub on Saturday, January 31, 2015 and doctors have allegedly told family members that there’s little they can do to save her life. “It’s now a matter of when the family wants to let go and accept that she’s pretty much not going to make it,” a source told Fox News. Bobbi Kristina, 21, was placed in a medically induced coma and connected to a ventilator after her live-in partner Nick Gordon and a friend found her unresponsive in a bathtub. No drugs were found in an initial search of her home, but TMZ reports that a second search did turn up unspecified drugs.

Funny web Suspicious package at NYC Bus Station turns out to be bag of 1,000 condoms

According to UPI, traffic had to be diverted from the George Washington Bridge Bus Station Friday night because of a suspicious silver bag that was found behind a barrier. Explosive experts and canine officers were called to the scene after the station’s patrolmen spotted the unattended bag. Once the team determined that no explosives were present, they opened it up to find “about 1,000 individually packaged condoms of various brands and styles” inside. Nobody has come forward yet to claim the bag.

Beauty pageant ends in unladylike behaviour as runner-up grabs the winner’s crown, hurls it to the floor and storms off stage A Brazilian beauty contest ended in chaos when the furious runner-up wrenched the crown off the winner’s head, and threw it to the ground moments after the result was announced. As Carolina Toledo, 20, was being crowned Miss Amazon 2015, runner-up Sheislane Hayalla saw red as audience members in Manaus, northern Brazil, captured the amazing scenes on camera. Other participants looked on in horror as the 23-year-old contestant ripped out the tiara, threw it to the ground, pointed an accusing finger at her adversary and insulted her before storming off stage.

Viral Clip of brutally-honest boy, scolding his crying sister wins $10,000 prize on America’s Funniest Home Videos A video of a precocious five-yearold doling out some sage advice to his crying sister has scooped an impressive $10,000 prize on America’s Funniest Home Videos. The clip shows Charlotte Carr, two, sobbing at her family’s kitchen table in Canal Winchester, Ohio, only to be reprimanded by her exasperated older brother Wesley. ‘Did you have a nap today?’ he asks matter-offactly, while glaring at his emotional sibling. ‘I didn’t!’ she responds, sobbing. Rather than asking what has upset her, Wesley delivers some tough love, simply replying: ‘well, you need one.’ Charlotte remains unimpressed with Wesley’s advice, grabbing his arm while insisting: ‘No, I don’t!’ The children’s father, Jared Carr, told Daily Mail Online that Wesley has always had a ‘great

relationship’ with his little sister. The 13-second video has garnered nearly 2.5 million views on YouTube since it was posted.

Katy Perry dancer dubbed ‘one of the worst backing dancers ever’ Katy Perry’s spectacular halftime show at the Super Bowl has been somewhat overshadowed by her unusual choice in backing dancers. The two dancers dressed in shark costumes have won their own league of fans after their awkward moves and depressed expressions went viral. Perry’s performance of her hits California Girls and Teenage Dreams saw her appear with dancing palms, beach balls, surf board and sharks.

On Monday, dancer Bryan Gaw came forward to admit he was the shark on the left - posting a picture saying ‘Yep. The rumors are true. Yours truly.’ While fellow dancer Scott Myrick said he was the shark on the right, adding that he had only one minute and 30 seconds to change into the costume. However, the shark costumes did not lend themselves very well to dancing, which saw the two dancers making stilted, flailing moves.

STrange Woman hasn’t smiled in forty years in order to avoid wrinkles Tess Christian isn’t devoid of humour, but for nearly 40 years she has made a conscious decision not to laugh or smile even at the birth of her daughter. This is because Tess says that maintaining a perennial poker face is a crucial way to keeping her admittedly, impressive youthful looks. ‘I don’t have wrinkles because I have trained myself to control my facial muscles,’ says Tess, ‘Everyone asks if I’ve had Botox, but I haven’t, and I know that it’s thanks to the fact I haven’t laughed or smiled since I was a teenager. My dedication has paid off, I don’t have a single line on my face. ‘Yes, I am vain and want to remain youthful. My strategy is more natural than Botox and more effective than any expensive beauty cream or facial.’ As unorthodox as Tess’s regime

may sound, she is not alone in her drive to suppress facial movements, such as laughing or frowning, in a bid to stop wrinkles forming. Even celebrities such as U.S. TV star Kim Kardashian, 34, have admitted trying not to smile or laugh ‘because it causes wrinkles’.

Saturday, February 7, 2015

StartingBlocks Having an article of disguise without a lawful excuse is illegal in Australia.

DuMBLaWs

It is illegal to take your clothes off in your car in Sag Harbour, New York.

OF EVERYTHING THAT'S WORTH ITS SALT

AFricA’S LonGeSt SerVinG PreSiDentS

Mbasogo

dos Santos

Mugabe

S/n President

country

Years of service

1 2

Teodoro Mbasogo José Eduardo dos Santos

Equatorial Guinea Angola

35 35

Robert Mugabe

Zimbabwe

4 5

Paul Biya Yoweri Museveni

Cameroon Uganda

32 29

Omar al-Bashir

Sudan

Idriss Déby

Chad

Isaias Afwerki

Eritrea

Yahya Jammeh

The Gambia

Denis Sassou Nguesso

Republic of Congo

worLD'S MoSt PoPuLAteD countrieS

China

India

United States

S/n country

Population, 2014

1 2

China India

1,355,692,576 1,236,344,631

estimated population, 2050 1,303,723,332 1,656,553,632

United States

318,892,103

439,010,253

4 5

Indonesia Brazil

253,609,643 202,656,788

313,020,847 260,692,493

Pakistan

196,174,380

276,428,758

Nigeria

177,155,754

264,262,405

Bangladesh

166,280,712

233,587,279

Russia

142,470,272

109,187,353

Japan

127,103,388

93,673,826

sHOcKInG

FOODFacTs

It’s illegal for a truck or other vehicle’s wheels to litter the street with mud in Minnesota.

Titanium dioxide, which is commonly used in paints and sunscreens, is also found in many salad dressings, coffee creamers and cake icing.

Tuscan arTisTs – Tuscany

1.Giotto (1266-1337) A humble shepherd boy, who dragged painting from its static, Byzantine methodology and set it on the road to the Renaissance, he imbued his work with earthy reality, giving his figures bulk and life. 2. Simone Martini (12841344) Martini took a medieval eye for narrative and iconography and matched it with a vibrant Gothic palette, richly patterned fabrics and intense drama in his courtly, graceful figures. 3. Donatello (1386-1466) This Renaissance sculptor cast the first freestanding nude and first equestrian statue since antiquity, and developed schiacciato, using etched perspective lines to create the illusion of great depth in a shallow relief. 4. Fra Angelico (13951455) His origins as a manuscript illuminator informed his art. But his work is grounded in the Renaissance precepts of naturalism and perspective. 5. Masaccio (1401-28) Not only did Masaccio imbue Renaissance painting with an unflinching naturalism, he also perfected single point perspective (Florence’s Santa Maria Novella’s Triniti’i). 6. Piero della Francesca (1416-92) A visionary early Renaissance master whose paintings have an ethereal spirituality and his well-modelled figures great humanity, his complex compositions show his early mastery of perspective.

Giotto

Simone Martini

7. Botticelli (1444-1510) The master of languid figures and grand mythological scenes is said to have tossed his own ‘blasphemous’ canvases onto Savonarola’s ‘Bonfires of the Vanities’. 8. Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) The ultimate Renaissance man: a genius painter, drafts- man, inventor and scientist. His sfumato technique of blurring outlines and hazy backgrounds lent his works great depth and realism. 9. Michelangelo (14751564) A sculptor of genius by his early 20s, who painted the Sistine Chapel only under protest, he also found time to design Florence’s defences, write sonnets and become a significant architect. 10. Pontormo (1494-1556) Mixing Andrea del Sarto’s experimentation with twisting figures and Michelangelo’s use of nonprimary colours, Pontormo took these concepts to vivid, complex extremes.

Saturday, February 7, 2015

StartingBlocks BY THE NUMBERS PREMiER LEagUE JaNUaRY 2015 TRaNSfER SPENdiNg

Number of teams that compete in England’s Premier League.

£130

MiLLiON

Total amount of money Premier League football clubs spent in this year’s January transfer window.

£950

MiLLiON

Total amount of money spent on the acquisition of players in the 2014/15 season so far.

£760

MiLLiON

This was the amount of money spent on acquiring players in the 2013/2014 season.

£225

MiLLiON

Amount of money spent on acquiring players in the 2010/2011 season.

£28

MiLLiON

Amount of money Manchester City’s spent to purchase Ivory Coast striker Wilfried Bony. Making him the most expensive signing of the January window.

£23.3

MiLLiON

Amount Premier League leaders Chelsea spent on bringing Colombian winger Juan Cuadrado to the club. Making him the second most expensive signing of the January window.

CELEBINFO

Bradley Cooper wanted to be a ninja when he was a kid so bad that he begged his father to send him to Japan until he was 21, so he could train to become a ninja.

WHAT'S UP

BOXOFFICESTATS

The first movie to gross over $100m was Jaws in 1975.

IN-THE-NOW HappENINgS arOuNd uS

Interesting facts you need to know about the 2015 Oscar nominees Did you know that Meryl Streep landed her record 19th Academy Award nomination for Into the Woods when the contenders were announced? That’s just one of the many facts and pieces of trivia you need to know about this year’s pool of nominees vying for Oscar gold. The Oscars will be handed out live at the 87th Annual Academy Awards on Sunday, February 22, at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. This year’s ceremony will be hosted by Neil Patrick Let’s break it all down: 1. Meryl Streep picked up her 19th nomination. Her nod for Into the Woods is the most for any actor, male or any female. Jack Nicholson follows with 12 total nominations. 2. Bradley Cooper earned his third consecutive nomination for American Sniper. He was previously nominated for Best Supporting Actor for American Hustle (2014) and Best Actor for Silver Linings Playbook (2013). He’s now one nomination away from tying Marlon Brando for the most consecutive acting nominations. 3. Speaking of Cooper, he’s actually nominated twice. He’s one of the producers of American Sniper, which was nominated for Best Picture. 4. Alexandra Desplat is also a double nominee, but in the same category. The composer was nominated twice for Best Original Score for The Grand Budapest Hotel and The Imitation Game. The last person to pull off such an achievement was Steven Soderbergh who was nominated for Best Director for Erin Brockovich and Traffic in 2000. 5. Edward Norton stars in two of the Best Picture nominees, Birdman and The Grand Budapest Hotel. He’s also nominated for Best Supporting Actor for Birdman. 6. Only four other actors appear in nominated films. They are Reese Witherspoon (Inherent Vice, Wild), Andy Serkis (Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, The Hobbit: Battle of the Five Armies), Mark Ruffalo (Begin Again, Foxcatcher), and Chris Pratt (Guardians of the Galaxy, The LEGO Movie). Though, none of their films are up for the main award. 7. Diane Warren earned her 7th Academy Award nomination for Best Original Song. If she loses she will be 0 for 7, continuing her losing streak. 8. Common and John Legend became the fifth hip-hop act to ever be nominated for Best Original Song. They follow Eminem, M.I.A., Pharrell, and Three 6 Mafia. 9. Nominees Gregg Alexander and Danielle Brisebois are probably more recognisable for their past. The

Best Original Song contenders were members of the late-‘90s alternative band, New Radicals. While Brisebois played Stephanie Mills on All in the Family before joining the band. They are nominated for writing Lost Stars for Begin Again. 10. Not a single winner from the 2014 Oscars was nominated this year. Though, Matthew McConaughey was the only winner with a notable contender (Interstellar). However, several losers, including Desplat, producer Scott Rudin, and Streep, were nominated again. 11. None of this year’s nominees picked up the big five (Best Picture, Director, Actor, Actress, and Screenplay). The last film to be nominated for all five was American Hustle. And the last film to win all five was The Silence of the Lambs. 12. Estonia and Mauritania earned first-ever Foreign Language nominations. Their competitors were nominated multiple times before: Argentina (6), Poland (9), and Russia (5). 13. How to Train Your Dragon became the first franchise to have all its films nominated for Best Animated Feature. Only one sequel (Toy Story 3) has ever won the award. 14. Wes Anderson (The Grand Budapest Hotel) picked up his first-ever Best Director nomination. His previous nominations were for Best Original Screenplay (Moon Rise Kingdom, The Royal Tenenbaums) and Best Animated Feature (Fantastic Mr Fox). 15. Three Best Picture nominees were featured on the Black List. The annual survey of buzzy, unproduced screenplays, included American Sniper, The Imitation Game, and Whiplash.

21 THiNgS THaT aRE gUaRaNTEEd TO HaPPEN aT THE OScaRS 2015 There are Oscar predictions - and there are predictions about what will actually happen at the Oscars. And today, ladies and gentlemen, we’re concentrating on the latter. Here are 21 predictions for this year’s - and possibly any years Academy Awards. 1. There will be a standing ovation for someone incredibly worthy 2. A beautiful actress will gurn 3. A charismatic actor will lose his s*** 4. Keith Urban will be there with Nicole Kidman 5. Anne Hathaway will be there looking modest 6. Actors will try to hide their ‘disappointed’ face. At least one will fail. 7. There will be red carpet awkwardness 8. ‘Brangelina’ will be impossibly beautiful and loved-up 9. Jim Carrey will remind us that he’s still a) alive and b) funny 10. Jennifer Lawrence will be adorable 11. And so will Emma Stone 12. There will be at least one accident involving shoes 13. And/or a dress 14. An actor will co-present with an actress who is much, much taller than him 15. An actress will react like Lupita when she wins 16. Meryl Streep will rock 17. Benedict Cumberbatch will be suitably British 18. Bill Murray will be suitably cool 19. You will wish you were there (sitting next to Jennifer Lawrence) Foxcatcher, which is up for several awards, was also featured on the Black List. 16. Boyhood star Ellar Coltrane wasn’t even born when director Richard Linklater released Dazed and Confused. The seminal 1993 film went on to produce three Oscar winners (Ben Affleck, McConaughey, and Renee Zellweger). Coltrane, who was born in 1994, was only seven years old when Boyhood first started production. (He’s currently 20 years old.) 17. Speaking of Boyhood, despite being filmed over 12 years, it only took 39 days to complete. 18. Laura Dern is only nine years older than Reese Witherspoon. Dern, who was nominated for Best Supporting Actress, plays Witherspoon’s mother in Wild. Witherspoon was also nominated for Best Actress.

Saturday, February 7, 2015

Stuff

p32

Television and Movie Bosses They are funny, evil, unbearable and the best characters on our screen.

p35

divorce, good for children? The debate is hot online as to whether divorce can ever be good for children.

p36

Katie Price The obscene spending of the world class model is shocking.

that will tickle your fancy

despots and dictators

Big Ideas

Conditioning and conditioned reflexes

Chad’s Hissene Habre During Hissene Habre’s 8-year reign in Chad from 1982 to 1990 human rights abuses were rampant. Habre maintained a dreaded political police force known as the DDS (Documentation and Security Directorate) whose agents extracted information under torture and practiced whole- sale liquidation of dissidents. Among DDS interrogation techniques were application of chemical sprays into the nose, mouth, and eyes; waterboarding; scalding and burning with incandescent instruments; forced ingestion of fluids, and fitting the mouths of detainees around fuming automobile exhaust pipes. It has been calculated that the number of Chadians killed at the hands of the DDS falls in the neighbourhood of 40,000 while more than 200,000 were subjected to detention, interrogation, and torture. In addition to these atrocities, Habre mounted ethnic cleansing programmes targeting such groups as the Hadjerai, the Zaghawa, the Sara, and others, arbitrarily netting them in mass arrests whenever he considered them a threat. In 1990, a rebel offensive soundly defeated Habre’s forces and soon thereafter entered the Chadian capital of N’Jamena. The dictator took flight, exiting through Cameroon, then finding refuge in Senegal. In March, 2006, the European Parliament demanded that Senegal turn over Habre to an international court in Belgium. Senegal did not comply. Two years later, a Chadian court sentenced Habre to death in absentia for war crimes against humanity.

Conditioning is the process by which behaviour can be modified by changing the stimuli associated with it, and thus changing the response. Classical conditioning was pioneered by the Russian physiologist Ivan Pavlov (18491936), who, in a famous series of experiments, showed that the presence of food causes dogs to salivate. If the appearance of food is systematically accompanied by the ringing of a bell, in due course the dogs will salivate on hearing the bell, even when food is not present. This is called a conditioned reflex. The other main form of conditioning is operant conditioning. Whereas classical conditioning involves a part of the nervous system beyond conscious control, operant conditioning seeks to alter voluntary behaviour by means of rewards and punishments, a process called reinforcement. Such techniques have been used by psychiatrists in aversion therapy, and by educational and industrial psychologists. Both kinds of conditioning are of interest to behaviourists.

Rome’s Heliogabalus This young Roman emperor was an effete, sadistic voluptuary who loved to play practical jokes on his subjects. One of his typical pranks was to seat seven of the fattest men in Rome on air cushions which were then punctured by slaves, sending the diners sprawling; other guests would be served artificial food made of glass, marble, or ivory, which etiquette compelled them to eat. When real food was served, guests were likely to find spiders in the aspic or lions’ dung in the pastry. Anyone who dined too well and fell asleep might wake up in a room filled with lions, leopards, and bears. If he survived the shock, he found that the animals were tame. Heliogabalus, who was fond of animals, often had his chariot pulled by dogs, stags, lions, or tigers; but he was equally apt to arrive at a state function in a wheelbarrow pulled by naked women. He often ordered slaves to gather spider webs, frogs, scorpions, or poisonous snakes he’d send to his courtiers as gifts. On one occasion, he had the pleasant idea of showering his guests with rose petals. He used so many that some of them suffocated. His extravagance was legendary. He thought nothing of commanding the construction of a magnificent bath, using it once, then ordering it demolished. The rest of Rome didn’t share his sense of humour and his grandmother had him murdered by the Praetorian Guard. His body, aged eighteen, was dumped into the Tiber.

Name game There is a place in Norway called Hell. There is a resort town in New Mexico called Truth or consequences. There is an airport in Calacuta named Dum Airport. There was once a town named 6 in West Virginia. There’s a cemetry town in California called Colma; its ratio of dead to living people is 750 to 1. If you come from Manchester, you are a Manchurian.

The Philippines consist of 7,102 islands, but only 2,000 of them are inhabited. Answer:

QUICKQUIZ

How many islands are there in the Philippines?

USELESS INFORMATION

The abrivation ORD for Chicago’s O’Hare Airport comes from the old name Orchard Field.

Stuff

Saturday, February 7, 2015 that will tickle your fancy

Devil Wears Prada

HISTORIFIC

SCIENTIFIC

Medieval doctors believed the Black Death plague had at least one of several causes. Many thought it was a punishment from God for the sins of the people.

Officially, Pluto’s name is now asteroid number 134340 after being downgraded from a planet to a dwarf planet.

Charlies_Angels

The Office

Horrible Bosses

Mashable's memorable TV and movie bosses C. Montgomery Burns, The Simpsons He’s frail enough to lose a tug of war to a baby and slow enough to be shot by one. Nuclear power plant owner and Homer Simpson’s boss, Mr Burns, is not only the epitome of evil but also about as old as that concept. Just for fun, he would crush the merry townspeople of Springfield in the palm of his hand if it wouldn’t break every brittle bone in his body. Bane to union members, environmentalists, greyhounds, and just about every other living thing. Miranda Priestley, The Devil Wears Prada She may not wield magic, but Miranda Priestley may be as evil as the evilest Disney villain. And though her fashion sense does not include Dalmatian fur, it has put her at the top of her field with the authority to terrorise not only every employee working for her illustrious Runway magazine, but perhaps the world at large. What make this ice queen from The Devil Wears Prada extra frightening is that she doesn’t even raise her voice to transmit her rage. Her

glare and her power is all she needs to bring the well-heeled glitterati to its knees. Charlie Townsend, Charlie’s Angels We assume that the best kind of boss is one whom you never see. The three lovely private investigators of Charlie’s Angels have such a setup, taking their orders via intercom, but never holding meetings with the agency’s owner in person. They do all the heavy lifting, and they always put themselves in harm’s way, and when the case gets solved – and it always does – Charlie celebrates the heaviest in some glamorous locale, often with a full glass of wine or champagne in one hand and another seductive babe in the other. Dr Julia Harris, D.D.S., Horrible Bosses If we had a choice between being molested in the dentist’s chair by Seinfeld’s Tim Whatley or Horrible Bosses Julia Harris, Harris wins by a landslide. And the fact that she might constantly want to have sex with us as her employee is definitely reason to consider a career as a dental assistant. Jack Donaghy, 30 Rock

Jack Donaghy could have been a secret agent. He’s suave, liquorloving, and ready to vanquish any foe – even his own boss’s teenage granddaughter who had her sights on the same network presidential perch as he. Instead he became a television executive, Vice President of East Coast Television and Microwave Programming to be exact. But cutthroat tyrant is just one of many sides to 30 Rock’s Donaghy. His innate desire to mentor his subordinates, culling from his vast and impressive life and professional experience, shows a true caring heart, especially for a die-hard conservative. Louie De Palma, Taxi Considering his explosive temper, vindictiveness, and crass behavior, it’s no wonder Louie De Palma is kept in a cage. Yet as the dispatcher for Taxi’s Sunshine Cab Company, the dark clouds he hilariously brings to his cabbies’ professional and somehow private lives extend beyond the confines of his chain link booth. Franklin Hart, Jr., 9 to 5 In movies, sexist, egotistical, lying hypocritical bigots go very far. The ‘80s best example is Franklin Hart,

WORlD OF ESPIONaGE

quESTIONS yOu'll NEVER aSk

US busts Russian spy ring, charges three with espionage

Authorities in the United States recently charged three Russian citizens, two of them diplomats, with operating a New York-based spy ring on orders from Moscow. The Federal Bureau of Investigation named the diplomats as Igor Sporyshev, 40, and Victor Podobnyy, 27. It said the two were employees of the trade office of the Russian permanent mission to the United Nations in New York. But the FBI had apparently been monitoring the two accredited diplomats since March of 2012. Its agents eventually uncovered that Sporyshev and Podobnyy were in fact employees of the SVR, Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service, one of the direct institutional descendants of the Soviet-era KGB. According to their indictment, the two were employed by the SVR’s ‘ER’ Directorate, which focuses on economics and finance. The two SVR employees, operating under diplomatic guises, regularly met with a third member of the alleged spy ring, Evgeny Buryakov, 39, also an SVR officer. However, unlike Sporyshev and Podobnyy, Buryakov was operating under non-official cover, posing as an employee in the Manhattan office of a major Russian bank. Non-official-cover operatives, or NOCs, as they

Jr. in 9 to 5, another boss on this list, but not the last, to incite revenge from his subordinates. His treatment of the women at his company – whether it be passing them up for deserved promotions, finding ways to peer down their blouses, firing them for minor infractions – brings them to fantasizing about his demise. But after some comic circumstances, those fantasies unexpectedly morph into reality, leading him to be shot at, hog tied, and imprisoned in his own home - a fair comeuppance indeed. Michael Scott, The Office They say you can’t trust a man with two first names. Whether you can trust Michael Scott or not is a conundrum. When it comes to loyalty, nobody beats him. He would likely take a bullet for you, albeit probably in the order of how good-looking you were. Yet when it comes to keeping you on a professional track, or even safe at work, that’s not his strong suit. But even though the supreme leader of ‘The Office’s’ office may be childish, jealous, insecure, harebrained, inappropriate, attentionstarved, tactless, tasteless, and mostly incompetent, he can sell paper like nobody else and doggedly tries to make all his of co-workers his friend.

are known in the US Intelligence Community, are typically high-level principal agents or officers of an intelligence agency, who operate without official connection to the diplomatic authorities of the country that is employing them. They typically pose as business executives, students, academics, journalists, or non-profit agency workers, among other covers. Unlike official-cover officers, who are protected by diplomatic immunity, NOCs have no such protection. If arrested by authorities of their host country, they can be tried and convicted for conducting espionage. US government prosecutors suggested that the three alleged SVR operatives were also in regular contact with individuals “associated with a leading Russian state-owned news organization”, presumably in the US. They also tried to recruit American citizens to spy for Moscow, including employees of “major companies” and “several young women with ties to a major university in New York”, according to the indictment. It is believed that the three Russians were primarily interested in information relating to potential US government sanctions against Russian financial institutions, as well as Washington’s efforts to promote the development of alternative resources of energy.

Why don’t my parents like any of my friends? There are probably different reasons for different friends. Usually the main reason is fear that a particular friend has been or will be a negative influence on you. They know (possibly from experience) how easy it is to pick up bad habits, and they don’t want you to get into trouble. Or perhaps your parents think your friend is disrespectful. For example, take a typical phone conversation: your friend calls up and asks, with the sensitivity of a water buffalo, “Is Wild Man Willie there?” They would much rather hear a polite, “May I speak to William please? This is Mark calling.” Another reason is they might be thinking your friend isn’t good enough for you. This is true especially if your friend is of the opposite sex and you want to date him or her. Perhaps the underlying reason for all of these is that your parents want the best for you and very few of your friends can measure up to their standards. This issue, like many others in your relationship with your parents, can be a reason to initiate World War III or communicate (peacefully) some strong feelings. Choose the latter and be glad your parents care for you.

Saturday, February 7, 2015

BRANDED Mac is the leading brand of professional cosmetics with sales in over 60 countries worldwide. The brand has been owned by Estee Lauder since 1998.

SoundingClever

symposium

A meeting to discuss one topic in particular from the Latin symposium from the Greek symposion: an occation fro drinking together. Samuel Beckett, author of Waiting for Godot, could go for hours without saying a word: he was not someone to seek out at a symposium.

SPORTSFACT

The first badminton player to retain an Olympic singles title in the men's category is China's Lin Dan, winning at the London Olympic games of 2012.

FORBIDDEN KNOWLEDGE

THINGS not everyone should know how to do

Make a water bomb

Stuff

that will tickle your fancy

February 1998

spotlights

obscurantist

Describes someone who casts a veil over the facts from the Latin obscurare: to make dark. After a long period of being obscurantist on their interrogation methods, the CIA finally admitted it had used 'water-boarding' on terrorist suspects.

FILM The Replacement Killers

Failing to kill anymore because of his conscience, a troubled hit-man seeks aid from a forger to help him get papers to China. However, the druglord has hired replacements to finish the job and kill the hit-man.

MUSIC Ricky Martin

eminence grise

A person who wields considerable power even though they have no official role. When Tony Blair was in power, the media depicted his unelected adviser Alistair Campbell as eminence grise of the Labour party.

The Cup of Life is a song recorded by Ricky Martin and released as the second single from his Vuelve album.

TELEVISION Power Rangers in Space

raillery

Teasing of a lighthearted nature from the French raillery: to rail. People who are in a grumpy mood can respond badly to raillery.

SOUNDING GREAT

verbose

Using or containing a great and usually an excessive number of words; wordy. A democracy like ours needs a certain good humour to keep bumping along. Government as a profession tends to attract people who have a lot of time to kill and the proceedings of government tend to be long and verbose. And democracy, of course, always welcomes the people's complaints, and the people who do come and complain exaggerate their complaints in hopes of getting action. So there is a lot of grimness around democracy.

This is the only bomb you can get caught with without getting hauled off to another country for interrogation. Yes folks, the water bomb is one of the most ancient antisocial uses of the wet stuff in the civilised world ranking just below, signing your name in fresh snow. Sure, a balloon can hold more, but the selfsufficiency of the origami method is deeply satisfying Take a piece of letter-size paper. Fold one of the corners across to the opposite edge and cut off the extra strip so that you are left with a square. Now make a crease between the other two corners, and a further two creases by making opposite sides meet. Now you’ve got four creases, which meet in the centre of the square, and when you stand it on its base it will look like a 3D four-pointed star. Turn the 3D star into a 2D triangle by closing up two

opposite sides. Then fold in all four loose corners into the apex to make a small diamond. Fold in the left and right points of the diamond, then turn over and repeat. Tuck each of the four points at the long end of this hexagon into its corresponding little pouch, which has been formed by folding in the points of the diamond in the last step. Fold them down to make them stay in their pouches. Blow through the hole in the top, and you now have a hollow cube just begging to be filled with water and then lobbed at someone you’ve got a huge crush on in the misguided hope that somehow your clumsy prepubescent assault will be interpreted as courtship. How can the object of your affection fail to appreciate the fruits of your craftsmanship, or see you as anything less than a giant in the field of handcrafted liquidpayload projectiles?

The most evil forces of the universe (Rita & Zedd, the Machine Empire and Divatox) have formed an alliance with the monarch of all evil, Dark Specter.

EVENT Iraq disarmament crisis

Then Iraqi president, Saddam Hussein, on the 20th, negotiated a deal with UN allowing weapon inspectors to return to Baghdad.

BIRTHDAY Shehu Shagari

President during Nigeria’s Second Republic, Shehu Shagari, celebrated his 73rd birthday on the 25th.

DEATH Fat Pat

American rapper better known by his stage name, Fat Pat, was fatally shot dead on the 3rd after going to a promoter’s apartment to collect an appearance fee.

Stuff

Saturday, February 7, 2015 that will tickle your fancy

metres

ARTICULATE

Italian artist Daniele's incredible hand painting

The distance from which a mosquito can see.

230

Average number of strings in a medium sized piano.

Why does beans give stomach gas? Beans contain high percentages of sugar (oligosaccharides) that our bodies are unable to digest. When these sugars make it to our intestines, bacteria go to work and start producing large amounts of gas. We also form gas from other sources, including the air we swallow, gas that seeps into our intestines from saliva reacting with stomach acid. One way to handle this problem, is by soaking the beans before cooking, this cuts down on their gas-producing power if you then discard the water. Unfortunately, this method makes the beans lose some water-soluble vitamins by doing that.

Why did dinosaurs go extinct? Award-winning Italian artist Guido Daniele has an exceptional talent – he can transform human hands into ‘handimals’ by using human hands as his canvas to create hyper-realistic animal portraits. With a career as an illustrator spanning over 40 years, Guido began to explore and experiment with body art and using the human body as a canvas in 1990. Gradually, he perfected the art of making his models contort their bodies into specific positions and using his painting skills to turn them into realistic portraits and scenes. In 2000, an art director asked him if he could paint animals on people’s hands without using Photoshop. According to the artist, after he had tried doing it, he was the first one to be positively surprised with the beautiful result. He did not know that a great artist from Florence, Mario Mariotti, had done the same artistic research before him. From 2000 onwards, he began to research on how he could create such a rare artistic creation. That same year, Guido released his worldfamous ‘Handimals’ series, consisting of 77 highly detailed animals painted onto hands that were twisted and manipulated into various positions to form beaks, trunks, feathers, and more. Guido believes that his work is so well received because hands – after the face – are the most expressive part of the body. So seeing hands transforming into so many different things, such as animals or natural environments, is something that surely fascinates people, both children and adults.

Can a bee sting another bee? Yes it can. There are about twenty thousand species of bees in the world, although some species are stingless, female bees typically have a sting to defend their colony against enemies that might steal their honey or even eat the bees themselves. Male bees do not have a sting and do nothing in the colony except for a few of them that will mate with the queen bee. Honey bees will attack worker bees from other colonies if they try to enter, but a queen honey bee will only sting and kill other rival queens. A newly emerged queen will search the colony for cells where other queens are developing and when she finds them she will sting and kill them. Bumble bees also attack workers from other colonies by either stinging them to death or biting them in other to drive them away. This specie also fight and sting each other within the nest.

Dinosaurs may have been big, but that did not mean they could survive anything. Because they were large creatures, dinosaurs needed to eat a lot of food just to stay alive. If their lunch died out, then they would too. A great meteor struck the earth sixty-five million years ago, which caused the sun to be blotted because of the amount of dust and poison thrown to the sky. This caused the plants to wither and die out, leaving only their nuts and seeds to survive in the soil. With no plants to eat, the great land-living vegetarian dinosaurs starved. After gorging on the bodies of the vegetarian dinosaurs, the big hunters ran out of food too, and soon died out like their peace loving relatives. Now they are known only from fossil bones.

KNOW WHY... …people have different skin colours. In your skin, you have special cells that make dark clumps of molecules called pigments. Different clumps have different colours. Combinations of the clumps can produce other colours. And the more pigment made in the skin, the stronger its colour will be. Very pale people from Sweden might make very few pigments in their skin. Very dark-skinned people from Africa make many pigments. Skin pigment can act like a natural sunscreen. Sunlight contains dangerous kinds of energy that can cause sunburn, and can even cause cancer. When dangerous sunlight hits the skin, the pigment can grab it and keep it from harming a person. In Africa, where the sun is very intense, dark skin is like a strong shield protecting people from cancer. Hence, because of the sun here in Africa, a little sunlight can get the skin dark.

Is it bad to crack your knuckles? Cracking your knuckles is not as bad as people think. The usual argument is that knuckle popping cause’s arthritis. This does not happen. Chronis knuckle cracking may cause other types of damage, including stretching of the surrounding ligaments and a decrease in grip strength, but not arthritis. The sound made while cracking your knuckles is produce in the joint when bubbles burst in the synovial fluid surrounding the joint.

Does warm milk really help you sleep? Milk is certainly a simpler alternative to prescription sleeping pills or drinking so much you just pass out, and there are several theories as to why it might work. Milk contains tryptophan, the warmth of the milk can have a minimal effect on your body temperature and sometimes make sleep a little easier. Milk also contains melatonin, which is a natural sleep aid.

Saturday, February 7, 2015

Stuff

ThE kEY question

that will tickle your fancy

TEENY

What your Valentine’s Day plans say about your future love life

Can divorce be good for children? Hollywood actress, Kate Winslet has said her two divorces have taught her children valuable life lessons - but not all parents would agree. Her comments sparked a heated debate on ITV’s This Morning, with women with entirely opposing views battling it out over the question of whether divorce can ever be good for children. The question has also been hotly discussed on online parenting forums since the star told Harper’s Bazaar: ‘I think it’s very important to teach your children to struggle on some level.’ The actress, 39, has three children: Mia, 14, from her marriage to Jim Threapleton, Joe, 11, from her marriage to Sam Mendes and one-year-old, Bear, from her third husband Ned Rocknroll. She spoke out in the March issue of Harper’s Bazaar saying: ‘I would honestly say that I wouldn’t change a thing. Even all the bad bits. ‘It doesn’t matter how ***** times have been, they all matter, because those things shape who you are. ‘And if you don’t like who you are, well, then you’re ****** really, aren’t you?’ Appearing on This Morning, mum-of-two, Sally Jones, slammed the star’s views on divorce and referred to her statements as ‘emotional incontinence’. ‘She somehow thinks that just because she wants to go off with somebody else it doesn’t matter to anybody else – the children can come in my wake and I’m just going to say it’s fine for them. ‘She’s got no idea how it’s going to affect them.’ But mother-of-one Alley Einstein, who joined Ms Jones. ‘Of course she has – she knows a child wants to see their mummy and daddy happy,’ she said. ‘My parents should have got divorced but they never did. Parents who live together and stay together because of their children are living a lie. ‘They’re simply saying mummy and daddy are going to stay together for you but we really aren’t happy. ‘Simply staying together for sake of children is wrong.’ But undeterred, Ms Jones continued:

Kids have plenty of struggles – kids of happily married couples have struggles. There’s no point making extra struggles. Obviously if there’s violence or bullying – that’s something different

‘Plenty of marriages people go through a bad time – especially if don’t have army of nannies and gardeners.’ But she says rather than ‘stick on a stiff upper lip’ they opt for divorce. ‘Many times my husband and I have wanted to strangle each other, ‘ she admitted. ‘But children long and long to see their parents together. ‘Kids have plenty of struggles – kids of happily married couples have struggles. There’s no point making extra struggles. But Ms Jones added: ‘Obviously if there’s violence or bullying – that’s something different.’ Parenting expert Noel Janis-Norton author of Calmer, Easier, Happier Parenting said the question of divorce is never black and white. ‘On the one hand children want their parents to stay together - unless it is a truly horrendous situation. ‘Children want that dream of perfection’, she told the MailOnline. ‘But in reality some families benefit from divorce. ‘The most troubled dysfunctional families I’ve seen in my career are the ones

where biological parents are staying together for sake of children. ‘Children will never thank their parents for that.’ But parents who aired their views on parenting forum Netmums were not all as understanding. ‘Unless it’s an abusive relationship it’s not a positive experience for children. How about teaching them to resolve problems etc.? Children need to learn life’s not always easy but there are many ways,’ posted Emma. Another mum, Kate wrote: ‘No I don’t think it is good or helpful to children at all. I wouldn’t think that highly of someone who had been married to 3 men had a child each to each husband and been divorced 3 times. How is that a good example to her children?!’ ‘Is there a remote chance that this is anything other than self-justifying nonsense?’ wrote Faith. Another netmum user Danni said: ‘I don’t think it’s fair to judge on different children with different fathers at all, but as someone who experienced my parents’ divorce when I was young I can say it didn’t help at all and I completely disagree. But that’s just my opinion.’ But alongside the criticism also came some support. One mother Jo posted: ‘My children have a much better relationship with their father now we are divorced than they ever did when we were married. ‘Now he actually has to spend time with them doing things that he just left up to me before. I just wish he had been like this when we were together!’ Lisa Marie then added: I don’t know that I would go so far as to say that divorce is a good thing for children but in some cases it can be far better than if the parents stay together.’

You’re celebrating with your Significant Other by going to Eden Garden and then spending the evening playing scrabbles, like you do every weekend: You two are in it for the long haul. If relationships were a point-based contest, your Valentine’s Day would earn you the Hogwarts house cup. You have the type of caring relationship where one of you is always willing to concede a game of scrabbles when the other is having a bad day, which means you are destined to get married at a video game tournament. You’re going to the movies to see a romantic movie with your crush: Oh, dear. The good news is that your crush will end up asking you to a school dance, and you’ll say yes. The bad news is that a herd of dinosaurs being fostered by a ruggedly handsome scientist on the closest tropical island will crash the school dance. Well, that sounds like bad news, but it’s entirely likely that being squashed by dinosaurs will be a more delightful and enriching experience than sitting through a romantic movie. You’re having a party with your friends, no dates allowed: Congratulations! You’re choosing to spend Valentine’s Day with your friends, because you know that friendship is more magical than anything. When you fall in love, the arch of your love story will be disrupted by upheavals in the wizarding world. Because you know the Dark Lord might use your Significant Other as a way to get to you, you break things off. After the battle, you and your Significant Other will get married and have kids. You’re studying for a history test you have on February 16th: Your teacher has an exam on the Monday after Valentine’s Day and instead of plotting to paint his house with heart-designed lace, you’ve decided to be conscientious and become an expert on some revolution. You go you! Your hard work will not be in vain. You’re spending the evening at home with your book and a box of chocolates: What a crazy coincidence, that’s exactly what we’re doing! You’re probably so content with your novel and your sugar coma that you don’t even need a love life. However, if you’re the type who wouldn’t mind spending future Valentine’s Days with a special someone else, rest assured that right now, as you read these very words, there is a fellow bookworm curled up in an armchair with some candy and your favourite fantasy novel, day-dreaming about meeting you. One day the two of you will meet at a quirky used books shop, and the following Valentine’s Day you’ll be sitting in armchairs next to each other, eating rejected candy hearts out of the same bowl. You’ll giggle and blush when your hands brush, but then return to your book because as cute as your date is, no person is cuter than finding out how frodo is going to destroy the ring!

CognosCenti

Saturday, February 7, 2014

Amount $609,000 $21,000 $6,320 (N12m) $18,000 (N34m) $150,000 (N2.8bn) $75,000( N144m) $1,827 (N3.5m) $610,000 (1.1bn) $364,000 (700m) $3m $190,000 (365m) 12-year-old Harvey, second left, is severely disabled and attends a special school in London

The obscene spending of Katie Price She’s always been the most brazen of celebrities, and the star who is worth $68m certainly did not disappoint when she recently revealed that she gladly claims three hours of free taxi rides to take her disabled son to school each day. Ms Price, 36, revealed that her 12-year-old son Harvey, who is blind, autistic and unable to walk long distances unaided, is taken from their home in Sussex to a special school in Wimbledon, Southwest London, by a cab driver and a nurse each day all at the taxpayer’s expense. When challenged over why she didn’t pay herself, given that she is extremely wealthy, she said: ‘Do you know how ****ing expensive that would be? Ridiculous. To have a driver to take me to London and back is up to a grand a day. It’s a ridiculous amount.’ The mother-of-five added: ‘I pay ****ing over the odds taxes.’ In a statement on her website, her agents argued that the local council had a duty to provide the transport for her disabled son whose father is former footballer Dwight Yorke following other schools’ closures. But this isn’t a one-off freebie: Harvey was previously given free taxi transport to a disabled school in Sevenoaks, Kent, around 45 minutes from the family home, and when that closed in 2012 he was given the place in Wimbledon. Meanwhile, Price is happy to fork out for a private education for her two children by Peter Andre Junior, 9, and Princess, 7 who go to a leading feepaying prep school costing at least $27,000 a year. And while Price who also has two toddlers, with her current husband Kieran Hayler might not cover her son’s taxi bills, it seems there’s a host of far more ‘frivolous fripperies’ in her life that she is happy to splash a fortune on, from gaudy

weddings to plastic surgery and shiny teeth. Childcare As well as Junior and Princess’s private school fees, Ms Price also forks out $53,000 a year on a full-time nanny. Her mother Amy gave up work to help care for Harvey and Katie’s brother Daniel is her manager. Also on the payroll is a PA called Catherine. Separately, there is an army of professional advisers such as a lawyer and accountant. Goodbye boys! Her two divorces were both reportedly costly. It’s been suggested that Alex Reid asked for $1.6m after their 11-month marriage; Katie argued that he’d made plenty in TV work and other deals. She said last year this marriage was: ‘A mistake . . . A rebound relationship. I realised that pretty soon after I married him, and I got out of that marriage as fast as I could. ’The far more costly divorce from Peter Andre was something she says she never sought: ‘That was his decision, not mine. He’s never, to this day, told me the reason why. We don’t speak. Too much has gone on. I’ll never speak to him again.’ I do, I do, I do Her first wedding, to faded pop singer Peter Andre at Highclere Castle in 2005, is said to have cost a total of $609,000. This included a $45,000 Isabelle Kristensen dress and a horsedrawn Cinderella coach, hired for $30,000. She renewed her vows with Andre in 2008 in South Africa as part of a TV

Katie and her second husband, Alex Reid

show, but the marriage ended the following year. Her second wedding, to cage-fighter Alex Reid, at the Wynn Hotel in Las Vegas in 2010, was a budget affair — relatively speaking: they spent $15,000 staying in the penthouse flat and only $533 on the marriage package. Afterwards, they went out to strip clubs together. There was a $45,000 renewal later that year at her home in Surrey, but they split a year after that. Her wedding to the current Mr Price, stripper and builder Kieran Hayler, in January 2013 took place on the beach at the Sandals Royal Bahamian Resort and Spa and cost about $914. ‘Sandals my ****! It was more like a smelly old flip-flop,’ she said. There was a second wedding featuring 13 bridesmaids two months later at a hotel in Somerset which cost a bargain $3,047 for catering and a further $3,047 for her dress. Golden-brown

For more than a decade, Katie has been a fan of sunbeds, saying in 2011 that she goes on one at least three or four times a week for 15 or 20 minutes each time, costing around $53 a week. ‘I cane my body like it’s leather,’ she told one magazine proudly, adding: ‘I don’t even use the goggles.’ She’s also got a sunbed at her home, costing around $6,095. Ms Price is so addicted that she tried to go to a tanning salon in Caterham, Surrey, when she was pregnant with son Jett in 2013. Salon manager Abi Williams said they turned her away: ‘Apparently salons near her let her use sunbeds, but as much as she’s a great customer, it’s not worth the risk. She wouldn’t be insured.’ Price also spray-tans herself and has been taught how to use Crazy Angel products a starter kit costs $228. Crowning glory She’s had hair extensions for 15 years and recently admitted it

$182,000 (349m) $38,000(730,000) $68m costs $9,142 a time or $18,000 a year. The process has not been without its problems, and she’s been left with bald patches at times, once saying it cost her $68,000 to fix ‘problems’ with her hair. Pearly whites Those massive white piano key teeth are her one regret and staggeringly they cost the price of a semi-detached home in some parts of the country. They’re the result of veneers put on in 2007 at a mindblowing cost of $150,000. ‘They were so expensive,’ she moaned last year. ‘When I was in the US, I watched Extreme Makeover and went to see the dentist, $150,000 my bloody teeth cost me! ‘It’s still my tooth underneath, but they shave them down so the veneer can sit on them. My real teeth look like pegs now. If I didn’t have them, I’d be Miss Peggy. ‘Veneers are the most painful surgery I’ve ever had. Now I have to have an anaesthetic just to get my teeth professionally cleaned. ‘They fall out. They’ve just popped off before when I was eating a burger. They’re glued on, but it has happened. I can’t bite an apple, I have to chop it. I can’t even bite Sellotape. The teeth have no grip because they’re so smooth.’ Plastic fantastic The one-time glamour model, and author of five autobiographies, has had seven breast enhancement operations and a nose job, costing many thousands of dollars for each operation. The first implants, in 1998 when she was 19, took her from a 32B to a 32D. The following year she increased in size to a 32DD then in 2000 went up to a G cup. She had another operation in Los Angeles to take her to a 32GG but then decided on a reduction to a FF in 2007. She wasn’t

What she spent it on Cost of her 1st wedding to Peter Andre Cost of her 2nd wedding to Alex Reid For tanning monthly On her various hair extensions yearly Spent to fix her teeth Spent on over 4 boob jobs Spent on Botox injections yearly Spent on her two horses Spent on two horse boxes Spent on her current house Spent on her former Range Rover Spent on her current car a Bentley Continental Convertible V8 Spent on her seven-seater car Katie’s current net worth happy with the result, saying that her breasts had been left too far apart. She had revision surgery in 2012 to take her to an F cup then late last year she had a further revision in Belgium to take her down to a 32C. Each operation cost around $15,000, with the later revisions costing more. She said: ‘For the first time in 20 years, when I walk in a room people don’t look at my boobs, they look at my face.’ The nose job was in 2007 and she also had liposuction on her thighs when she was 20. Pins and needles Jordan admits to a longstanding obsession with Botox, at $609 a time, and was even filmed having the procedure in 2008 for the reality show Katie and Peter: The Next Chapter. By 2009, she was in the habit of flying 4,828km to Los Angeles every three months to have it at the S&B Surgery Centre in Beverly Hills and threw a Botox party at a Milton Keynes spa for her hen celebrations before her 2010 wedding to Reid. Nowadays, said the model in a recent interview: ‘I have Botox every four months and that’s it. I have it down the sides of my eyes — three injections on each side. I’m not really wrinkly anyway, so I probably don’t even need it. I only do it because everyone else has it done. Botox isn’t a big deal for me: it’s like going shopping.’ The animal kingdom Katie started riding when she was seven and now has a stable and indoor riding ring at her house (where husband Kieran Hayler allegedly used to meet her former best friend Jane Pountney for assignations). She told Surrey Life magazine in 2010 that she had two dressage horses, plus a Welsh grey pony for Junior. Horse and Hound reported that one of the horses

Saturday, February 7, 2014

was worth $228,000 and she’s thought to have spent $610,000 on them in total. She’s since added to that and now has five horses, plus a huge menagerie of other animals 80 chickens, two pygmy goats, four dogs and three pigs. One pig is called Percy and the others have been named Jane and Chrissy in ‘honour’ of her two friends who she claims slept with her husband last year. She and Kieran now sell eggs to shops in West Sussex and there are plans to turn their farm into a mini zoo for children to visit. Kieran recently quit the building trade and now has a poultry licence, which is required by Defra if you keep more than 50 birds. All the animals alone cost about $618,000, plus annual upkeep of $45,000. Plus she’s bought herself two horse boxes for around $182,000 each. One’s since been sold. The other, a bright pink number is still very much part of Team Price. Home sweet home Her current home, near Horsham, West Sussex, was bought for $3m in 2011 when she was engaged to Argentinian model Leandro Penna. It has six bedrooms, 53 acres of land, stables and outbuildings, and she says she’s planning to convert a cabin in the grounds into a home for Harvey when he’s an adult. She said: ‘I love being at home on my farm with my kids and a man by my side.’ Her previous house was in Woldingham, Surrey. She and Peter Andre paid $3.2m for it, selling it for $4.2m in 2011. Flash wheels Naturally, Katie Price’s runabout is not like yours or mine. She has recently put her Barbie-pink Range Rover, which had been customised with black alloy wheels, up for sale for $106,000. She now gets around in a Bentley Continental Convertible V8, costing around $182,000. Her son Jett, 17 months old, got a $304 replica for Christmas last year. Price is also believed to have a seven-seater people carrier to use on the school run for Princess, Junior and fivemonth-old Bunny. And Harvey’s dad is worth some serious money Dwight Yorke is said to be worth at least $12m following a stellar footballing career which included a lucrative period at Manchester United. He fathered Harvey during a romance with Katie Price, but required a DNA test before acknowledging him. Katie says that he has met Harvey only once, on his tenth birthday. In her autobiography she wrote: ‘It wasn’t a friendly meeting and I didn’t hear from Dwight afterwards. It’s such a shame. All I can say is that he is missing out on a very special little boy.’ Dwight once ran a marathon in aid of the charity Vision, for blind and partially-sighted children. He also gleefully recounted bedding four women in 24 hours and having sex in the back of a taxi during a journey from Glasgow to Manchester in his autobiography, Born To Score. He retired from football in 2009.

p38-42

THE BIG STORY

SPORTS

BRANDS The roaring crowds, colourful fans, the adrenaline rush, the hurt of defeat and the celebrations of joy! All these pictures paint the wonderful, exciting and glamorous world of sports. But one of the most important aspects to sports in the modern era is the presence of top global sportswear and equipment brands. Here are some of the most popular of them all.

Saturday, February 7, 2015

SportS brandS

Most popular Adidas No doubt the largest sportswear manufacturer in Europe and the second biggest in the world after Nike, Adidas has sponsorship deals in virtually every sport and is in some kind of deal with most of the biggest athletes in the world. To further buttress this fact, Forbes reported in 2012 that the company single headedly outfitted over 5,000 athletes that competed at that year’s Summer Olympics which held in London. 30 per cent of the medals won at the event was, according to the same report, also won by athletes wearing sportswear by the German owned sportswear company. The company’s net worth is estimated to have risen that year to $7.1bn. One of the main focuses of Adidas has always been football kit and the associated equipment. Adidas remains a major company in the supply of team kits for international

association football teams and clubs, including Bayern Munich, Real Madrid, Chelsea, Manchester United and A.C. Milan. The company is also involved in making referee kit that are used in international competition and by many countries and leagues in the world. The company has been an innovator in the area of footwear for the sport, with notable examples including the 1979 release of the Copa Mundial moulded boot used for matches on firm dry pitches. It holds the accolade of the bestselling boot of all time. Adidas introduced a new ball for the 2010 World Cup, the Jabulani ball and the Brazuca was the match ball of the 2014 World Cup. Adidas is one of the official sponsors of the UEFA Champions League. Athletes in Adidas’s sponsorship include Derrick Rose, Dwight Howard, Steven Gerrard, Andy Murray, Robert Griffin III and many more.

Highly innovative Reebok A subsidiary of the Adidas brand since 2005, Reebok is a producer and brand of athletic shoes, clothing, and accessories. Reebok is not only an athletic shoe company but produces clothing and various sports wear. From 2002 to 2012, the company however, has held the exclusive rights to manufacture and market both authentic and replica uniform jerseys, side-line clothing and caps, and onfield football footwear marketed as NFL equipment of the teams of the National Football League (NFL). In 2004, Reebok also had the sole right to manufacture Canadian Football League (CFL) onfield jerseys, side-line gear, and footwear. The company signed a four-year deal to become the official shoe supplier to Major League Baseball (MLB) during the same year. Reebok has held the rights to produce the on-ice EDGE uniform system, performance clothing, and training

footwear of the National Hockey League (NHL) since 2006 and was also the exclusive uniform provider for Brazilian clubs Cruzeiro, Internacional, and São Paulo FC. In Mexico, Reebok was kit provider of Chivas de Guadalajara before the team was taken over by parent company Adidas in 2011. Rapper Jay-Z became the first non-athlete to get a signature shoe from Reebok. Another rapper, 50 Cent later released a line of G-Unit sneakers. Others like Nelly and Ben-Ari have since also become spokespersons for the company. Actress, Scarlett Johansson has also enjoyed Reebok’s sponsorship deals having being signed on and allowed to introduced her own line of clothing and footwear called Scarlett Hearts, a Reebok lifestyle collection. The company is however no longer the exclusive kit provider for the NFL, a position it held since 2002.

now synonymous in the sports world with technological research and design innovation. The accompanying double lozenge figure representing two partially overlapping playing fields is a clear sign of company policy, committed from the beginning to soccer and tennis, and of an innate inclination towards active sport. Its products are now distributed in more than 60 countries.

with Warrior was the English club Liverpool. Fellow Premier League team Stoke City have introduced Warrior as their new kit manufacturer for the 2014–15 seasons. In April 2012 Warrior Sports reportedly signed a sponsorship agreement for Liverpool Football Club worth $38.1m per season as of the 2012/13 season.

Other spOrts brands Burrda

Burrda is a sportswear company which produces footwear and clothing for football, rugby, handball, running and training. Burrda is the official kit supplier to a number of European clubs and national teams. Although it is a very young company which started in 2007, the company has managed to become the official suppliers of many sport teams in very various sports such as handball, rugby or football. After having made a lot of promotion in Arab countries, its new target seems to be Europe, as the number of professional teams supplied and/or sponsored by Burrda Sport is quickly growing.

Hummel International

Operating in the sphere where fashion

meets sports, Hummel came storming into the 21st century by re-launching tracksuits from the 1970s and selling these old school styles through fashion shops internationally. Some of these styles became an instant hit with Hollywood celebrities such as Jennifer Lopez, Pink and Paris Hilton to name just a few. Hummel has always been known for and prided itself in doing things a little differently, with a twist and a bit of character. The international sportswear company based in Denmark currently manufactures apparel for football, handball, basketball, rugby league, Australian football, and volleyball.

Lotto

Born from the last part of the name of its founders, the brand name Lotto is

Warrior

Warrior Sports is a manufacturer of lacrosse, ice hockey and football (soccer) equipment and clothing based in Warren, Michigan, United States. In 2012 Warrior entered the football market, producing kits and training equipment for several clubs around the world. The first team to sign

Joma

Joma is a Spanish sports clothing manufacturer, which currently produces footwear and clothing for football, futsal, basketball, volleyball, running, tennis, paddle, fitness. Joma is one of the most exciting brands in the football team kit market and are based in Toledo in Spain. They have been supplying team wear for many years.

Saturday, February 7, 2015

SportS brandS

Creative Puma Puma is one of the world’s top sports apparel companies for sports which include categories such as football, running, motorsports, golf and sailing. The company, which was created in 1948, distributes its products in over 120 countries. The German is headquartered in Bavaria, Germany. The company has an estimated 9,500 employees in its branches the world over and distributes its products in more than 120 countries. In the sponsorship business, Puma has over time, sponsored a number of footballers including the legendary Pelé in his active years, Eusébio, Johan Cruyff, Diego Maradona, Lothar Matthäus, Kenny Dalglish, Thierry Henry and a host of others. The sportswear merchant is also the sponsor of the world’s fastest man at as we know today, Jamaica’s Usain Bolt. Puma is also involved in sponsoring sports events in Europe and the world over. In cricket, Puma is the official apparel sponsor for the Sunrisers Hyderabad, and Rajasthan Royals in the Indian Premier League.

International cricketers such as Yuvraj Singh (India), Craig Kieswetter (England), Adam Gilchrist (Australia) and Brendon McCullum (New Zealand) endorse the brand, and use the brand’s cricket gear. They are the primary producer for Formula One and NASCAR clothing. In January 2014, Puma and Arsenal F.C. agreed a long-term Kit partnership that presents the biggest deal in both organisations history. Recently it was also announced that the Puma EvoPower 1 statement ball would be used for the Indian Super League. Puma is also the official kit sponsor for the ISL team Kerala Blasters, coowned by cricketing legend Sachin Tendulkar. Puma is the main producer of enthusiast driving shoes and race suits. The company is also in a partnership with Ferrari, Ducati and BMW to make Puma-Ferrari, PumaDucati and Puma-BMW shoes. And in another business move in December 2014, pop singer Rihanna was named creative director of the company with the job description of overseeing the direction of the women’s wear line.

Innovative Umbro A subsidiary of Nike, Umbro is an English sports apparel and accessories which has its dominant presence in over 90 countries worldwide. It has been widely associated with the English football team and some of the top flight football clubs. Brazil became the first FIFA World Cup champions to wear kits by Umbro as far back as 1958. Two years later, Manchester United Scottish player Denis Law signed an exclusive agreement with the brand, becoming the first footballer to be sponsored by the brand. In the United States, Umbro was the major owner of United Soccer Leagues, the parent organisation for North America’s lower division men’s soccer, and the second tier women’s league (W-League) and youth league (Super Y-League). During the 2009 USL First Division season, the Carolina RailHawks, Charleston Battery,

Vancouver Whitecaps, Rochester Rhinos, Austin Aztex, and Puerto Rico Islanders all wore Umbro kits. In October 2007, JJB Sports bought a 10.1 per cent stake in Umbro in a move to protect its stake in the market for England football shirts. During the 2012 USLPro season, the Dayton Dutch Lions wore Umbro. Recently, the latest club to join the growing list of teams like, Manchester city, England national team and the others around the world, is the famous Brazilian club Grêmio who have unveiled their new 2015 home and away kits at an event in Porto Alegre and also Everton, which will start in 2015. The brand marked its 9oth birthday in 2014 for a successful career in kitting up most especially football players. Umbro has been the heart and soul of football for 90 years and have continued to innovate as well, for the pitch.

Most lucrative sporting deals Real Madrid – Adidas $49m per year Adidas and Real Madrid’s kit manufacturing partnership, extended until the end of the 2019-2020 season, is the highest-paid kit providers deal in football history. Revealing the news in their annual financial report issued to club members, the club announced that the renewal would be worth around $49m per year. With the deal, the club continues to record increased revenue from its footballing activities, excluding transfer revenues. The partnership between the two dates back to 1998 and it is the German sports manufacturer’s second partnership spell with the club.

Arsenal – Puma – $45m per year Arsenal’s shirts have been made by sports

manufacturers including Bukta, Umbro, Adidas, Nike and Puma. When Nike took over from Adidas as the club’s kit manufacturer in 1994, Arsenal’s away colours were changed to two-tone blue shirts and shorts. The Londoners’ current kit suppliers are Puma; the deal was signed in January 2014. Puma will pay Arsenal $45m per year till the end of 2019. Addition to that, the deal will increase the club’s revenue by a full $34m and will provide a huge lift in the spending power that will be available to Arsenal Wenger. Arsenal will wear the Puma logo-embedded jersey from next season.

Barcelona – Nike – $43m per year

Barcelona is arguably the most successful football club in Europe over the last seveneight years. With the success, the club has

established itself as a world-recognized brand more than ever. Barcelona and Nike have had a long-term kit manufacturing relationship since 1998. In 2008, when the club had no corporate sponsorship, a new deal was signed with the American sports manufacturer. The deal is worth $43m per year, and will run through the end of 2018, making it the third largest kit supplier’s deal in the football world. Barcelona announced in 2007 that their deal with Nike, initially signed in 2006, was being extended until the end of the 2017-18 seasons. The original contract was worth a minimum of $36m a year.

Manchester United – Nike – $41m per year Prior to Nike, Manchester United’s kit

suppliers were Umbro. The relationship between the two lasted for ten years until 2002; it was Umbro’s second spell with the Premier League club, cited as one of the ‘biggest footballing brands around the globe.’ Nike’s 2002 record-breaking $460m deal that is estimated to pay United $41m per year will last until 2015.

Liverpool – Warrior – $40m per year

Warrior sports, based in Michigan is a manufacturer of ice hockey, football and lacrosse equipment and clothing. In 2012 Warrior entered the football market, by signing a $40m per year kit manufacturing deal with English club Liverpool F.C. With the deal, running till the end of 2015, Liverpool ended their relationship with sportswear giants Adidas, stretching back to 1985.

Saturday, February 7, 2015

SportS brandS

Undisputed king, Nike Whenever sports apparel, equipment and accessories are mentioned, the first name that strikes the heart and mind is Nike. The American multinational corporation is engaged in the design, development, manufacturing and worldwide marketing and selling of footwear, apparel, equipment, accessories and services. Its famous slogan ‘Just Do It’ is probably the highest brand recall that any brand has around the world. An inspirational brand, which has been associated with the leading sports stars, teams/ clubs and major sporting events, Nike is the undisputed king brand in the world of sportswear and accessories. Nike sells a whole range of products, including shoes and apparel for sports activities like association football, basketball, running, combat sports, tennis, American football, athletics, golf, and cross training for men, women, and children. Nike also sells shoes for outdoor activities such as tennis, golf, skateboarding, association football, baseball, American football, cycling, volleyball, wrestling, cheerleading, aquatic activities, auto racing, and other athletic and recreational uses. The major sports supplier has contracted with more than 700 shops around the world and has offices located in 45 countries outside the United States. Most of the factories are located in Asia, including Indonesia, China, Taiwan, India, Thailand, Vietnam, Pakistan, Philippines, and Malaysia. Nike is also in the athletes’ sponsorship business sponsoring many successful track and field athletes over the years including as Carl Lewis, Jackie Joyner-Kersee and Sebastian Coe. The signing of basketball player Michael Jordan in 1984, with his subsequent promotion of Nike over the course of his career, with Spike Lee as Mars Blackmon, proved to be one of the biggest boosts to Nike’s publicity and sales. Nike pays top athletes in many sports to use their products and promote and advertise their designs and has been the official kit sponsor for the Indian cricket team since 2005. Nike has also sponsored soccer players such as Ronaldinho, Ronaldo, Cristiano Ronaldo, Didier Drogba, Neymar, Ibrahimović, Mario Balotelli, Wesley Sneijder, Wayne Rooney, and Landon Donovan among others.

Saturday, February 7, 2015

SportS brandS

Reputable Fila Fila which started using the circular knit technology to produce the polo shirt, built a reputation for itself as a fashionable and quality iconic sportswear. From football to basketball to golf to mountaineering, this Italian brand has made is presence felt worldwide. The company was founded in Italy in 1911 but was take-over in 2007 by Fila Korea forcing the company to now operate from the country of its new owners, South Korea. Fila has offices in 11 countries worldwide and enjoys a special relationship with remarkable athletes, pioneers marked as much by indomitable passion as incomparable performance with tennis great Adriano Panatta, Paolo Bertolucci and the incomparable Bjorn Borg. The partnership between the Italian sports brand and the world of tennis grew so strong that in 2008 Fila signed an agreement with the Wimbledon championship to produce a line of sportswear and shoes bearing the Wimbledon logo, which was launched

that same year. Fila fans also include talented NBA rookies Grant Hill and Jerry Stackhouse, who wore Fila shoes in most of their winning matches, bringing the Italian sportswear fashion house into the basketball arena. Fila lines include clothing for skiers and snowboarders and have been worn by some of the sports big names like Alberto Tomba and Deborah Compagnoni. When Reinhold Messner climbed Mount Everest for the first time without supplemental oxygen, he was wearing Fila’s highly specialised technical clothing. The brand also makes footwear and active wear designed for running, cross training, hiking, volleyball and soccer. Italian yachts carry the Fila logo as do the Ducati and the Ferrari racing teams. Fila’s current global turnover exceeds 200 million Euros and it has flagships stores and selling points all over the world, as well as a clientele that ranges from the man, woman and child in the street to some of the world’s most famous sports champions.

Responsive Under Armour Under Armour is an American sports clothing and accessories company involved in the supply of sportswear and casual apparel. The company with its headquarters in Baltimore, Maryland currently sponsors the NFL Combine with a collection of apparel used by the athletes in the combine. It has also opened several specialty stores and factory outlet locations in Canada, China, and 39 states. In 2009, baseball Hall of Famer Cal Ripken Jr. formed an alliance under which the company would have significant presence at several venues and events under the auspices of Ripken Baseball, including providing uniforms for the minor league Aberdeen Ironbirds and youth teams participating in the Cal Ripken World Series. The company which is reported to be the major commercial sponsor for the reality television show Duck Dynasty also provided the suits worn by speed skaters in the 2014 Winter

Olympics. In 2014, it was announced that the University of Notre Dame and Under Armour had come to terms on providing uniforms and athletic equipment for the university. The 10-year deal is the largest of its kind in the history of college athletics. Under Armour promotes its products by sponsorship agreements with celebrity athletes like, Saúl “El Canelo” Álvarez, Tom Brady, Bryce Harper, Lindsey Vonn, professional teams and college athletic teams. UA gives back is Under Armour’s effort to become involved in different facets of the world community. They have different branches in their organisation that specialise in each cause that Under Armour supports. They consist of the UA Power in Pink, UA Freedom, UA Green, and UA Youth Movement. UA Power in Pink is an Under Armour programme that promotes the women using exercise and fitness to fight breast cancer.

Most lucrative sporting deals Chelsea – Adidas – $32m per year

Chelsea have signed the biggest shirt deal in the history of the Barclays Premier League after agreeing a 10-year contract worth $457m with Adidas. Chelsea has been ranked by Forbes magazine as the seventh most valuable football club in the world, valued at $761m. The club’s kit has been manufactured by Adidas since 2006, which is contracted to supply the London side’s gear from 2006 to 2018. The partnership was extended in October of 2010 in a deal worth $243m over eight years.

AC Milan – Adidas – $19m per year Adidas and AC Milan’s kit manufacturing partnership dates back to 1998. Prior to that, Lotto, Italy’s famous sportswear company had been supplying Milan’s

sportswear since 1993. The Rossoneri’s 10-year relationship with the German sportswear giants was renewed in 2007 on a lucrative $19 million per year deal that will run through the end of the 2017-18 seasons. Besides the kit logo on the shirt, Adidas will also be responsible for assisting the club in merchandising and distributing Milan’s nonfootball based products.

Bayern Munich – Adidas – $29m per year

Adidas have been a stakeholder in Bayern Munich since 2002, when they purchased 9.4 per cent of the club for around $111m. The German sports manufacturer signed an eight-year kit supplier’s deal with the Bundesliga giants in April 2011; the deal will run from 2012 till the end of 2020.

Adidas will pay Bayern an estimated $29m per year. Bayern has also won one UEFA Cup, one European Cup Winners’ Cup, one UEFA Super Cup, one FIFA Club World Cup and two Intercontinental Cups, making it one of the most successful European clubs internationally.

Juventus – Adidas – $30m per year

Juventus’s current kit suppliers are Nike. The first deal with the US sports manufacturer was signed in 2003 and the recent deal signed in 2012 will run through the summer of 2016, with Nike is paying the Italian club $17m per year. This deal is the 11th most expensive kit manufacturer’s deal in football. However, Juventus will part ways with Nike after 2016. They have already announced Adidas as their shirt suppliers

from 2016 to 2022. The deal is estimated to pay Juventus $30m per year.

Manchester City – Nike – $19m per year

Manchester City is one of the richest football clubs in the world, valued at $689 million. Their current kit supplier’s deal is with US sports manufacturer Nike; the contract was signed in 2013 and will run to the end of 2019. Prior to Nike, City’s kit manufacturing deal was with Umbro since 2009, after the club signed a 10-year deal on an estimated fee of $9.89m a year. The current contract sees Nike pay City $19m per year. Manchester City are on course to secure a huge cash windfall as they begin talks to extend their valuable sponsorship deal with Etihad Airways.

Saturday, February 7, 2015

SportS brandS

Versatile Kappa Kappa is the brand of basic net spa, the company owner of the brands K-Way, Robe di Kappa, present in the sports and leisure apparel, footwear and accessories market. It operates worldwide through an international network of entrepreneurs, licensees of the brands, which produce or distribute the products. Kappa Sport has sponsored at some point in Italy, one of the country’s famous football teams, Juventus. The brand gained popularity at world level five years later, during the Olympic games in Los Angeles in 1984, when USA athletes wore the company’s sportswear. Today Kappa is a global sponsor of important football, basketball, volleyball, rally, ski, golf, fencing and martial arts teams, as well as of many sports federations. Kappa has further consolidated its market position and gained wide recognition through sponsorship by being the official partner of Norwegian Olympics

teams in 2010 Winter Olympics and the 2012 Summer Olympics games, Japan National Ski Team, China Open Tennis Tournament as well as other sport programmes held in PRC, Japan and International. In addition, Kappa also actively participates in entertainment projects such as movies, TV series, TV entertainment shows and concerts. Moreover, Kappa, with its own brand character and strengths, continues to implement its cobranding strategy. In 2008, after successful cooperative strategies between Kappa and Pepsi (China) the company collaborated with YOHO, a popular fashion magazine to organise trendy T-shirts and store design competitions ceremony. Meanwhile, the company signed a strategic alliance with Huayi Brothers Media Group. The brand positioning in sports, fashion, attraction and taste are passed along to consumers, while increasing the general exposure of the brand.

Philanthropic ASICS ASICS is a Japanese athletic equipment company which produces footwear and sports equipment designed for a wide range of sports, generally in the upper price range. The name is an acronym for the Latin phrase anima Sana in corpore sano which translates as a healthy mind in a healthy body. In recent years their running shoes have often been ranked among the top performance footwear in the market. ASICS bought the outdoor brand Haglöfs on July 12, 2010, for SEK $128.7m. ASICS manufacture a range of sport equipment’s for Olympic styles used throughout the 50s, 60s and 70s by athletes worldwide. In 1977, Onitsuka Tiger merged with GTO and JELENK to form ASICS Corporation. Despite the name change, a vintage range of ASICS shoes are still produced and sold internationally under the Onitsuka Tiger label. Since 2007 there has

been larger emphasis placed on this acronym, and its translation has been truncated for advertising purposes to ‘Sound Mind, Sound Body’. In 2006 fiscal year, ASICS generated 171bn yen in net sales and 13bn yen in net income. 66 per cent of the company’s income comes from the sale of sports shoes, 24 per cent from sportswear, and 10 per cent from sports equipment. 49 per cent of the company’s sales are in Japan, 28 per cent in North America, and 19 per cent in Europe. On October 4, 2011 it was announced that ASICS will be the new official kit manufacturer for the Australian Cricket Team, replacing German manufacturer Adidas. The company is aimed at creating positive influence on the communities where they live and work. They do this through charitable donations, other philanthropic activities and by stimulating healthier and more sustainable lifestyles.

PoPular sPorts in the world Football

With 3.3-3.5 billion fans all around the Europe, Africa, Asia, Americas, and other continents, football, also known as soccer, is a sport played between two teams of eleven players with a spherical ball. It is played by 250 million players in over 200 countries, making it the world’s most popular sport. The game is played on a rectangular field with a goal at each end. The object of the game is to score by using any part of the body besides the arms and hands to get the football into the opposing goal.

Cricket

Cricket is another Popular Sport in the World with 2-3 billion fans across India, UK, Pakistan, Asia, and Australia. Cricket

is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on a field at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. Each team takes it in turn to bat, attempting to score runs, while the other team fields. Each turn is known as an innings. Cricket has three different formats that is, test, ODIS and T20. After Introduction of T20 format Popularity of Cricket has been increased greatly.

the ball through the basket during regular play. A field goal scores two points for the shooting team if a player is touching or closer to the basket than the three-point line, and three points if the player is behind the three-point line. The team with the most points at the end of the game wins. Basketball is one of the most played and watched sport in the world.

Basketball

Hockey, field and ice is also a popular sport with 2-2.2 billion fans in Asia, Europe, Africa, and Australia. Hockey is a family of sports in which two teams play against each other by trying to manoeuvre a ball or a puck into the opponent’s goal using a hockey stick. In many areas, one sport typically field hockey or ice hockey is generally referred to simply as hockey

With round 2-3 billion fans in US, Canada, china and Philippine mainly, Basketball is a sport played by two teams of five players on a rectangular court. The objective is to shoot a ball through a hoop 18 inches (46 cm) in diameter and 10 feet (3.0 m) high mounted to a backboard at each end. A team can score a field goal by shooting

Hockey

because both forms of hockey are also popular in the world. Field hockey is the national game of Pakistan and India Also, at the other hand ice hockey is a lot more popular in Europe especially in Canada, USA, Latvia and Sweden.

Tennis

Tennis with around 1 billion fans around the Europe, Americas, and Asia. Tennis is a sport that people usually play individually against a single opponent or between two teams of two players each. Each player uses a racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over or around a net and into the opponent’s court. The object of the game is to play the ball in such a way that the opponent is not able to play a good return.

Saturday, February 7, 2015

GAMETROPIC

GADGETED

Donkey Kong was originally set to be a Popeye arcade game.

Toshiba recently released the Toshiba Encrypted USB flash drive that delivers military grade protection for sensitive data, using an innovative hardware security device with enough storage space to pack in up to 32GB of stuff within.

TechLiFe

hackers posed as attractive women on Skype and Facebook to spy on Syrian rebels A group of hackers, likely with ties to the Syrian regime, posed as attractive women to hack into the computers of opposition fighters, stealing hundreds of documents and spying on thousands of Skype conversations that revealed the victims’ battle plans, according to a new report by security firm FireEye. The report details a months-long operation in late 2013 that gave the hackers, and their backers, a real tactical advantage on the battlefield, highlighting once again how the Syrian civil war is being fought both in the city’s streets as well as on the Internet. Tricking victims to install spyware on their computers, the hackers were able to amass a staggering amount of data, according to the report. The researchers said there was no smoking gun but, they said, given

that the hackers seemed mostly interested in specific battle plans, it suggests that the perpetrators may be connected all signs point to the regime of Bashar al-Assad, the Syrian president. “The attackers were interested in the kind of information that could yield a military edge to

the regime,’ John Scott-Railton, an independent security researcher who worked on the report, told Mashable. Laura Galante, a researcher at FireEye who also worked on the report, concurred. “Getting the tactical battle plans behind the Syrian opposition for different battles is not very interesting for most people. This was a very specific audience.” Using Skype profiles purportedly belonging to attractive women sympathetic to the Syrian opposition, the hackers tricked the victims into downloading what appeared to be pictures of the women. The files, while also displaying a photo, actually contained spyware designed to take control of the victim’s computers, stealing documents, monitoring Skype chats, and identifying contacts.

chinese teenager chops off his own hand in a bid to cure his addiction to the Internet A Chinese teenager has been left in intensive care after trying to cure his internet addiction by cutting off his own hand. The 19-year-old from Nantong, Jiangsu province used a kitchen knife to sever his left hand, local media reports. The teen, known only by his last name Wang, had sneaked out of his family home to avoid alerting his parents, and chopped his hand off sitting on a public bench. ‘We cannot accept what has happened. It was completely out of the blue. He was a smart boy,’ his mother told reporters, according to The Telegraph. Images of the bloodstained bench where the teenager allegedly performed the self-amputation was broadcast on local television. Doctors have been able to reattach the hand, but it is not known if the boy will regain full mobility. In China, online addiction among young people has become a serious problem, with an estimated

Click! Click!!

for the upwardly mobile

Apptitude Microsoft Outlook is one of the best email apps around. Microsoft made a killer email app with Outlook, and it easily trounces Google’s own Gmail app for iPhone. There’s an integrated calendar that makes emailing your availability a cinch, and you can swipe to archive, delete, or schedule emails to return to your inbox at a later time.

Letterspace is our new favourite note-taking app. Letterspace solves the biggest problem of the default iPhone Notes app: organization. Letterspace uses hashtags to make searching through your notes easy, and there’s a handy swipe bar that lets you navigate through your notes as you would with a computer mouse. That means less tapping and more typing.

Alfred turns your iPhone or iPad into a helpful remote for your Mac. Alfred is perfect for power users: You can save time by launching your Mac apps via your iPhone or iPad, and you can also control your music or lock your Mac while you’re on the way out the door. And since you can customize your own specific shortcuts, that’s only the beginning.

Be My eyes makes it easy to help out the blind using only your smartphone. 24million children considered ‘web junkies’. Research published in December last year found that 7.1 per cent of the population in Asia is addicted to the internet. As well as introducing laws requiring games companies ‘to develop techniques that would limit the gaming time of minors’, more

than 250 military style boot camps have been set up across China to tackle under-18 internet addiction. Last month, neighbouring Taiwan passed a law banning parents from allowing their children under the age of two from using electronic devices such as iPads, televisions and smartphones.

When a blind person needs to know what they’re looking at, they can use Be My Eyes to connect to volunteers and video chat to learn what they’re looking at, or ask clarifying questions. It’s a great way to give back, and if you’re not free to help when a notification comes your way, the app will automatically connect to another volunteer (so you don’t have to feel guilty). Available for iTunes.

Facebook can now follow you on other sites

Facebook has started collecting information about the other websites user’s visit, the links they click on and their searches. The social media site already harvests details people share on their profiles, including where they went to school, their interests and where they live. But under a new privacy policy – to which anyone who has signed into Facebook since Friday, January 30 2015 has been opted in automatically – it can track activity outside the website, including online searches and some of the details users share with retailers. A Facebook spokesman said: ‘It takes into account pages and places visited

on Facebook, alongside browsing on the internet.’ She added that the changes help Facebook ‘to better serve more relevant advertising to you.’ The site uses cookies – small files which it places on your web browser or device to collect information which can then be transmitted back to Facebook. The new terms were introduced as part of a wider update to Facebook’s privacy policy, which the social network claimed was designed to make the rules easier to understand. However, most users remain unaware of the radical change they have signed up for. The

move has been condemned by privacy campaigners and has reignited fears over the threat the social network poses to people’s privacy online, and the transparency with which it behaves. Labour MP Helen Goodman said it is ‘absolutely typical of Facebook’ to prioritise profits over the interests of its users. She added: ‘What this does is clearly put their financial interests ahead of the interests of their informed consumers. ‘They’re taking a significant step forward in terms of the amount of information they collect. It makes me feel very uneasy.’ Facebook’s profits more than doubled to $1.1bn in the last

quarter as advertising revenues soared. John Hemming, Liberal Democrat MP, said that Facebook owed it to its members to be more transparent about the way it uses their data. Renate Samson, chief executive of privacy campaign group Big Brother Watch, added: ‘This privacy change was not clearly announced to users of Facebook. ‘It is vital that companies seek informed consent from their users before making changes to privacy settings and enable the user to choose whether to accept the service or not. ‘The ability to opt out should be straight forward and not an arduous round the houses task.’

Saturday, February 7, 2015

Cultured!

CULTURE

for the uninformed & clueless

SHOCK

Just so they can be mummified when they die, the Sokushinbutsu in northern Japan spend 3 years eating just nuts and another 3 years eating bark and roots while drinking poisonous tea.

Superstitions

Dresssense

Vivica A Foxx bares all in sheer dress It was a night in which underwear was on everyone’s minds. But Vivica A. Fox seemed to have misunderstood the memo - arriving to host the industry’s annual gala rather visibly missing her bra. The 50-year-old Celebrity Apprentice contestant had certainly made a huge effort, looking fabulous in her clinging sheer gown at the under fashion Club on Tuesday. With or without her undergarments, Vivica was stunning in the mesh and silver-sequin creation at the Femmy Gala, held at Manhattan’s Cipriani Restaurant. Daily mail reports that the actress’ dark hair was piled high on her head in an elegant bun, pulled-back severely from her forehead to highlight dangling and sparkling earrings. Vivica’s makeup was perfect - possibly thanks to some on-the-carpet touch-ups - and highlighted her prominent cheekbones. As for Vivica’s dress, it was impossible to miss, covered from shoulder to floor in silver sequins. While the fabric seemed solid from the waist down, the sequins broke up into floral patterns over mesh at the bodice. Red-pink and green jewelled highlights were dotted throughout the

silver. It was thanks to the mesh that Independence Day star Vivica’s bra-less state was evident: a clear outline of her unfettered chest was visible. Any other undergarments were hidden by the gown and therefore remained a mystery. The cause of the night, the annual Femmy Gala, was a fundraising event meant to fund the under fashion Club’s various charitable endeavours. Vivica attended as the group’s celebrity host. After Tuesday night’s Celebrity Apprentice episode, a little glamour and high society might have been welcome to Vivica. The episode saw her engaging in allout war against co-competitor Kenya Moore. Although there had been bad blood between the competitors for some time, the most recent fight inspired Donald Trump to declare their argument ‘a new low.’ The standard in-fighting came after a failed challenge - this one to create a photo bomb campaign for King’s Hawaiian bread - got personal when Kenya charged Vivica with having emotional issues. ‘This menopause is killing me. I can’t think straight. I’m acting like a damn fool half the time. 50 just isn’t sexy,’ read a tweet posted to Vivica’s account, used as evidence of instability by Kenya. ‘I never tweeted that!’ Vivica insisted when the message was read aloud in the boardroom.

Some people believe in order to bring good luck and to keep nightmares away, you must hang a horseshoe in the bedroom or on a door knob with its ends pointing upwards.

Proverbs A single stick may smoke, but it will not burn. – Ethiopian provErb No matter how fast the poplar grows, it will never reach heaven. – LEbanon provErb A man does not wander far from where his corn is roasting. – nigErian provErb

excusez-moi Manners in Austria Never eat until your host says “Guten Appetit”. Never cut a dumpling with your knife. Doing so implies that it is tough. Break rolls with your fingers and eat them in small pieces.

Indulge

the $1,453 face cream made from your own blood

At a dinner party, do not leave any food on your plate.

Face cream made from human blood has emerged as the latest craze in celebrity skincare. Used by various celebrities, each $1,453 tub of the ‘MC1’ cream is made using proteins and growth factors found in blood. And it claims to reduce the signs of ageing by building collagen, shrinking pores and increasing the healing power of cells in the skin, as well as helping to clear up conditions such as psoriasis. The cream, which has been created by cosmetic doctor Barbara Sturm, was developed in Germany and is now being made available in the UK for the first time, at London’s Dorchester hotel. It contains proteins, which have healing properties, which are extracted from the client’s own blood. And Dr Sturm, whose celebrity clients include The Nutty Professor actress Jada Pinkett Smith and Being John Malkovich star John Cusack, said it is ‘the future’ for skin treatment. Once known for dating actor George Hamilton, Dr Sturm said there is a demand for the cream among people whose face is their businesses. According to her, the results of the cream are spectacular and immediate. The ‘MC1’ cream takes the inflammation out of your skin, shrinks

Austrians seldom entertain business guests in their homes. To them, the home is a private place. If someone honours you with an invitation to his or her home, do not ask for a tour; it’s considered impolite.

The cream’s creator, Dr Barbara Sturm

the pores, builds collagen, and creates a radiant and healthy glow to each patient’s skin. It has also been effective in reducing dermatitis, psoriasis and acne, and in speeding wound healing. Each pot of Dr Sturm’s cream is tailor made using a blood sample taken from a client when they check in at the Dorchester, which is popular with stars including Kate Moss, Gwyneth Paltrow, Elle Macpherson and Sienna Miller. Daily Mail reports that the cream is processed through a special syringe and

uncommon history of common things Who dreamed up the idea of injecting pigment under the skin to create pictures of roses and anchors and animals? Whether it started out as an accident, or a prank pulled by some bored tribesmen, it turns out that tattooing is one of the oldest forms of artistic expression. Cave paintings date

the practice to at least 8000 B.C, and tattoos occur in nearly every ancient culture around the world. The earliest tattoos known to date appear on the body of the Iceman, a Bronze Age man discovered in the Tyrolean Alps during the melting of a glacier. The body had been frozen for more than 5,000 years;

incubated at 37ºC for about four to six hours, which increases the production of proteins and growth factors. These are then separated and extracted from the blood and added to a pot of Dr Sturm’s cream. And clients receive their 50ml tub of the cream the following day, while Dr Sturm keeps a vial of frozen blood for future use. Dr Sturm, who is a former orthopaedic surgeon, now travels the world to treat her a-list clients’ skin complaints. She claimed bespoke treatments like hers are the most effective way of treating the skin, adding that over the counter products are typically full of marketing rather than medical ideas, and aggressive ingredients like fragrance, parabens, and mineral oils, and believes that the cream is an effective bespoke treatment. People whose face is their business have to take the best care of it. Dr Sturm has already established herself among the well-healed by offering her spa treatments at the exclusive Hotel Aurelio ski chalet in Austria. There, guests can wind down after a day on the slopes with a facial. Dr Sturm’s products are also sold on Net-A-Porter. However ‘MC1’ cream is only available at The Dorchester.

Leave a party by 11:00 pm. In restaurants, the person who extended the invitation pays the bill. Austrians won’t appreciate a struggle over who pays. To beckon wait staff, raise your hand with your index finger extended. Do so quietly and never shout. Men enter restaurants before women. Do not eat food while walking on the street; the only exceptions are ice cream and toasted chestnuts. Be quiet and orderly in public. Never be loud or boisterous. Greet salespeople when entering and leaving a shop.

tattoos

it bore tattooed stripes on the lower back and right ankle and a tattoo cross behind one knee. The tattoos could have been merely ornamental, or have been applied as protective or healing tokens. Many ancient Egyptian mummies are marked with tattoos, perhaps the oldest being that of Amunet, a priestess from

4,000 years ago. Her tattoos likely had some religious or spiritual purpose, though it’s also possible they had a sexual reference as well – scholars speculate that tattoos on females may have been fertility talismans. The early Greeks and romans also used tattoos, primarily to mark slaves.

Saturday, February 7, 2015

TRAVELOGUE Doha Village is a place to visit for those interested in gaining some information about the glorious trading history of Kuwait. The village was famous for construction of fishing and dhows units during the past and a visit would be like returning to Kuwait’s rich history.

DESIRABLES

Beyoncé unveils vegan delivery service

See the Sample menu: inside the 22 day vegan plan

Global veganism is imminent as the singer launches meat-free meals-on-wheels after completing a 22-day ‘plant-based’ challenge. If you like it then you should have put some greens on it

Beyoncé Beyoncé’s figure is the envy of women around the world thanks to her slim yet curvaceous shape. And now fans of Beyoncé can emulate the very diet that got her there, by going vegan with the star’s new food delivery service. The 33-year-old has partnered with her personal trainer Marco Borges to create an on-demand service called 22 Days Nutrition. The idea behind the 22 day plan is that it takes 21 days to break your unhealthy eating habits. All of the meals in the plan will be 100 per cent plant-based and delivered once a week, with all ingredients non-GMO, gluten-free, soy-free, dairyfree and organic. The prices start as low as $9.24 per meal and you can choose to have one, two or three meals delivered per day. Sample dishes include curry fried rice with vegetables, almond berry breakfast loaf and fajita breakfast beans. Beyoncé said of the plan: ‘All you have to do is try. If I can do it, anyone can.’ Her business partner Borges added: ‘We all know the importance and value of eating plant-based foods but

often times find ourselves trapped in a series of bad habits that sabotage optimum wellness. ‘The Vegan Meal Delivery program makes it easier to reset your habits with healthy and delicious plant-based foods.’ Beyoncé first decided to try veganism herself at the end of 2013, when she and her husband Jay Z dramatically slimmed down after following the healthy eating plan. Jay posted about the plan on his Life and Times website saying: ‘On December 3, one day before my 44th birthday, I will embark on a 22 Days challenge to go completely vegan, or as I prefer to call it, plant-based! He continued: ‘This all began a few months back when a good friend and vegan challenged me to embrace a ‘plant-based breakfast’ every day. ‘It was surprisingly easier on me than I thought ... PS: B is also joining me.’ Beyoncé then posted a series of Instagram pictures detailing some of their meals, which included vegan macaroni cheese. They were also spotted eating out at Vegan restaurant called Crossroads in Los Angeles.

Singer Jennifer Lopez is also a fan of the plan and has previously said: ‘You do feel better. I do recommend the vegan diet because you wake up and feel great!’ It has previously been reported that vegans are, on average, 10 to 20 pounds lighter than their meat-eating counterparts. Dailymail spoke to Lifesum nutritionist Lovisa Nilsson, who said that a vegan diet can be good for your health. She said: ‘A vegan diet has several health benefits, including lowering blood pressure and cholesterol, which reduces the risk of heart disease, cancer and type 2 diabetes. ‘Plant-based foods are a good source of protein, whilst whole grains, vegetables and legumes are low in fat (especially saturated fat), high in dietary fibre and contain no cholesterol. ‘Aside from the abundance of health benefits, a vegan diet is also addressing environmental and ethical concerns which makes the vegan lifestyle even more appealing.’ Lovisa cautions that anyone deciding to try out veganism needs to make sure they keep their diet balanced though.

THE MUSTREADS AND LINGER-ONS

She said: ‘Eliminating animal products makes it more difficult to keep a wellbalanced diet, and vegans often lack essential nutrients, such as vitamins B-12 and D, calcium and omega-3 fatty acids. ‘Although many plantbased foods contain protein, such as beans and tofu, it is often not enough; deficiency and iron anaemia is another issue when replacing meat with other products. ‘A vegan diet lacks vitamin B-12, which is essential for the function of every cell in our bodies. B-12 can only be found in certain types of algae. ‘Embarking on a vegan meal plan is a big change for the body, and as with any diet, education and planning are vital in order to ensure you get a balanced diet of vitamins and nutrition. ‘I would also suggest consulting a nutritionist or a doctor to make sure you are suited for this diet and that it is nutritionally wholesome. ‘And keep in mind that becoming vegan doesn’t automatically make you healthier, and perhaps it is not necessary to make a fullfledged lifestyle change.’

A sample menu has been released of what you could be expecting to have delivered should you sign up for Beyoncé and Marco’s 22 Days vegan meals. DAY 1 Breakfast: Vanilla chia pudding with 1 cup fresh berries Lunch: Crunchy red cabbage and green apple sesame slaw with 1 cup steamed, cubed sweet potato (or one small potato, baked) Afternoon snack: 1/4 cup hemp hummus with fresh vegetables (carrots, celery, romaine leaves, bell pepper, etc.) Dinner: Black bean and quinoa salad with quick cumin dressing Dessert: Dark chocolate DAY 2 Breakfast: Smoothie with 1 cup almond milk, 1 large frozen banana, 1-2 tablespoons almond butter, 1 serving of 22 Days protein powder, and a heaping cup of leafy greens (spinach, chard, kale, etc.) Lunch: 1 brown rice tortilla (Food For Life brand) or two gluten free corn tortillas with 1/4 cup hemp hummus, fresh or roasted red bell pepper, sliced cucumbers and a handful of greens. Serve with steamed vegetables as desired, or a small side salad Afternoon snack: 22 Days bar Dinner: Zucchini pasta with cherry tomatoes, sweet potato, basil, and hemp ‘parmesan’ Dessert: Banana soft serve DAY 3 Breakfast: Quinoa breakfast porridge with 1 cup fresh berries Lunch: Large salad with at least three cups of greens, whichever veggies you like, 3 tablespoons pumpkin or hemp seeds, and a dressing of choice (from the dressing options in the recipe index) Afternoon snack: 4 tablespoons hemp hummus with fresh vegetables (carrots, celery, romaine leaves, bell pepper, etc.) Dinner: Small baked sweet potato with a tablespoon of melted coconut oil, half a cup of organic black beans, and steamed greens as desired (or a fresh side salad) Dessert: 2 raw brownie bites

Saturday, February 7, 2015

MiNDFUL

RANDOM

for the LeISUreLY-MINDeD & thoUGhtfUL

FACTS

In 2007, Iran produced the world’s largest handmade carpet for a mosque in the United Arab Emirates. It was the size of a soccer field.

LAST WEEK'S

CROSSWORD

AXLE BELL BRAKES CHAIN CYCLIST FENDERS FRAME GEARS HAND SIGNALS HANDLEBARS HEADLIGHT HELMET KICKSTAND LOCK SEAT SPOKES TIRES WHEELS

SUDOKU CLASSIC

WORDSEARCH

WORDLADDER Can you climb the ladder and find the missing numbers?

? 12 ? 10 40

SUDOKUCLASSIC

8 24 6 12 4 See solution below

HOMEWORK FOR GROWN-UPS 1. Which Portuguese navigator and explorer, in 1519, began the first expedition to circumnavigate the earth? a) Ferdinand Magellan b) Christopher Columbus c) William Wendell 2. What single city contains about 20% of the residents of its entire continent? a) Sydney, Australia b) Beijing, China c) Lagos, Nigeria 3. Which women did Bill Clinton appoint as USA’s first ever female Secretary of State in 1995? a) Hillary Clinton b) Condoleezza Rice c) Madelyn Albright 4. Which city was the world's most populous city around the beginning of the 20th century? a) Jakarta, Indonesia b) Delhi, India c) London, England

5. Which Catholic Church official ranks just below Pope? a) Cardinal b) Reverend C) Bishop

WORDLADDER SOLUTION

6. What two instruments in an orchestra have the highest pitch? a) Oboe, Clarinet b) Piccolo, violin c) Trumpet, Saxophone 7. In 1964 Tanganyika united with the island of Zanzibar, forming what modern African country? a) Rwanda b) Tanzania c) Angola 8. What company is the largest producer of computer software for the personal computer? a) Oracle b) Microsoft c) Apple

Answers

HOMEWORK

a) Ferdinand Magellan a) Sydney, Australia c) Madelyn Albright c) London, England a) Cardinal b) Piccolo, violin b) Tanzania b) Microsoft

WORDSEARCH

Put each of the numbers 1-9 once in every row, column and 3x3 box

CROSSWORD

1. Gusto (4) 3. Brings to an address (8) 8. Feast (7) 9. Tag (5) 10. Performer (5) 11. Trade barrier (7) 12. Voice box (6) 13. Large numbers of people (6) 16. Closest (7) 18. One of the senses (5) 20. Cajoled (5) 21. Before (7) 22. Fragile (8) 23. Unsightly (4)

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8.

1. Striped equine (5) 2. US legislator (7) 4. One or the other (6) 5. Hot remnants of a fire (5) 6. Bars (7) 7. Secured by written agreement (10) 9. Research workplace (10) 12. Lackadaisical (7) 14. Hoping for (7) 15. Certify (6) 17. Spiritual being (5) 19. Ahead of time (5)

SOLUTIONS

ACROSS

4(x3)=12(/2)=6(x4)=24(/3)=8( x5)=40(/4)=10(x6)=60(/5)=12 (x7)=84

DOWN

Saturday, February 7, 2015

a la carte

80%

hOW tO ...

THE LOTS TO CHEW ON AND REGURGITATE

Percentage of people whom you go to with a problem that are actually happy you have the problem.

96%

Conduct a background investigation Percentage of candles that are purchased by women.

lady'S WORdS When a lady and her guests experience poor service in a restaurant. She does not say: “Are you just dense? How many times do I have to ask you for a glass of water?” “Can’t you get anything right?” “I guess you don’t know who I am, do you?” “You just made a big mistake-I am normally a big tipper.” But she does say: “We seem to be having a problem here. Would you point out the manager for me, please?” A lady does not get into arguments at the dinner table with anyone-least of all with a server who is supposed to be making sure she has a hasslefree evening. When it is clear that she is not getting the level

of service that she expects, a lady goes to the manager or, at the very least, the host. If that person cannot solve the problem, or at least find another server, the lady has learned an important lesson and does not take her business to that restaurant again. When a lady has offered to pay for dinner and her credit card is rejected. She does not say: “Your machine must be screwed up.” “Run it through again. I know I mailed the payment.” “The good news is that I have twenty credit cards. I’m sure at least one of them isn’t over the limit.” But she does say: “Excuse me a moment. l’ll be

right back.” If a lady is dining in even a moderately fine restaurant, the servers and the management will do everything possible to help avoid embarrassment in this situation. Ideally, they will find an excuse to call her away from the table before giving her the bad news. If there really is a problem with her accounts and there is no other way of settling the bill (perhaps by running to a nearby ATM or convincing the restaurant to accept a check), as a last resort the lady might have to beg assistance from her would-be guests. Even then, she does not blame others, and she never, ever creates a scene.

change yOuR WORld Phone your local recycler and arrange collection It’s worth checking out if your local recycler does collect. Most pilot projects have shown that a recycler needs a larger pile of waste than that generated by

one household to achieve economies of scale, but there is a definite opportunity for large complexes and residents’ associations to negotiate to have separated

trash picked up, either at central collection points or at kerbside. The larger cities also have companies that will collect separated trash for a monthly fee.

Buy non-bleached kitchen towels This is one of the few green tips that is not going to save you money at first. Kitchen paper towel is great stuff: super absorbent, quick wipe, in the bin, out of sight, out of mind. But that is a lot of effort in trees, energy and chemicals going into making something

that you use for 2 seconds. Switch to the non-bleached, recycled paper that you can find in most supermarkets these days. Yes, it is more expensive than the regular brand but here’s the plan: once you are aware that this stuff has value, you will start using

a lot less of it, substituting kitchen clothes for wiping, which can at least be washed and used again. And for the jobs which really do need paper towels then at least you know that you are doing things in as green a way as possible.

laugh–Out–lOud For better or perverse A husband and wife drove for miles in silence after a terrible argument in which neither would budge. The husband pointed to a mule in a pasture. “Relative of yours?” he asked. “Yes,” she replied. “By marriage.” John, an avant-garde painter, got married. Someone asked the bride a few weeks after the weeding, “how’s married life, Helen?”“It’s great,” she answered. “My husband paints, I cook; then we try to guess

what he painted and what I cooked.” Three Frenchmen were trying to define savoir-faire. “If I go home,” said Alphonse, “and find my wife with another man, say “excuse me” and leave, that is savoir-faire.”“No,” replied Pierre, “if I go home and find my wife with another man, and say “excuse me, please continue,’ that is savoir-faire.” “Au contraire,” said Jacques, “if I go home and find my wife with

another man and say ‘excuse me, please continue,’ and he can continue, then he has savior-faire.” The judge was trying to change the mind of a woman filing for divorce. “You are 92,” he said. “Your husband’s 94. You have been married for 73 years. Why give up now?”“Our marriage has been on the rocks for quite a while,” the woman explained, “but we decided to wait until the children died.”

Scenario You need information on a person you, close relative, or a friend is considering marrying. Or you are negotiating a transaction and need to know the background, reputation, and honesty of the individual(s). First stop: the web The internet is the fastest and least expensive way of obtaining personal data, starting with the search engine Google. You can goggle someone by entering a name, and Goggle will deliver several listings directly related to the name. If the name is a common one, you may have to associate it with additional details, such as a date of birth or geographical location. Ask questions Do not be shy about asking people for details regarding the subject’s education and employment, birth date and location, and military service. These inquiries can be done subtly by inserting into conversations questions pertaining to these personal facts. This route of questioning requires you to be patient and reasonably persistent. Remember, a good investigator is a good listener. Back to school Educational history can be a great source for additional information on a person. For example, alumni magazines often provide personal, professional, and other relevant information. School magazines and yearbooks are also a great way to locate a subject’s classmates, teammates, and roommates, all of whom might have additional insights on the person. The professional If a life-changing or business decision is dependent on your search, you may consider hiring a respected professional investigative firm. A licensed investigator is able to legally access more than one hundred databases available only by subscription. These databases provide a wide array of facts on individuals, including a lifetime of addresses; lists of neighbours, liens, bankruptcies, judgments, press reports, lawsuits, regulatory actions and owned property, including automobiles and boats; and employment listings for every job a person has ever held. The interview Facts determined from your investigation are not always black and white, but often grey and less easily defined, making it more difficult to decide a course of action. The individuals identified by your investigator or through your initial search can help you answer some of the unanswered questions. But first you must find out as much as possible about the interviewee’s personal and professional history and relationship to the subject. You do not want the interviewee’s prejudices or ulterior motives to twist or shade the facts you need to help you determine a course of action. Additional sources Before closing the interview, you or your investigator should inquire whether the interviewee can provide additional sources who might have relevant information, as well as their addresses and relevancy to your inquiry. You should also ask if there are any other questions the interviewee should answer to complete the picture.