I almost died as Eagles coach, says Oliseh....Read It All On Tafia World

Former Super Eagles coach Sunday Oliseh

Pius Ayinor

Former Super Eagles coach Sunday Oliseh has again made shocking revelations about his time as the coach of the team. He gave detail account on Sunday via his Twitter handle with a link to his blog, SundayOliseh.tv.

Oliseh resigned in February after only seven months on the job. The former Eagles captain who left abruptly cited unpaid salaries and poor working conditions as reasons for leaving the job.

Oliseh said he had quite a difficult time with the Nigeria Football Federation, with some senior players like Mikel Obi, Vincent Enyeama and Victor Moses.

 

Of his near-death he wrote, “One day whilst coaching the Super Eagles in Abuja stadium prior to the Burkina Faso game, all of a sudden I felt dizziness, light headedness, headache and could barely stand. I managed to finish the session before calling on the doctor into my room who was clueless to what was happening.

“From then on it was sleepless nights, loss of appetite, high blood pressure and before I knew it I started losing weight.

“After several visits to doctors abroad nothing was found though the doctors found anomalies they couldn’t pin point the actual illness to.

“For weeks I was bed ridden, lost 7 kilos and could barely walk 5 metres without sitting down. My family was petrified and all feared the worst. One thing was for sure though: had I not taking that evening flight to Germany when I did, there was a strong possibility of a far worse outcome. Thank God for his mercies.”

Oliseh also took another dig at the NFF President Amaju Pinnick insisting the FA boss made false claims regarding coaches being paid up front.

He wrote, “On the day I was unveiled, the very vocal president of the NFF, Amaju Pinnick boasted to the world that he was going to pay me 6 months’ salary in advance, we were never ever going to be owed as he had procured sponsorship from Zenith Bank, that he knows I am the African Guardiola etc. These were declarations that not only added unnecessary pressure on us but made us hated by certain quarters as ‘prima Donnas.’

“We now know that, that was a ploy to make the world falsely believe that I was giving all the tools to succeed whilst intending to eventually starve us of tools to succeed in reality to have a scapegoat and employ his dream foreign coach for obvious reasons, as was tried failingly recently!”

Oliseh insists that the noise made by the NFF on the salary may have pushed kidnappers into targeting his family members.

“In October 2015, with the belief that I had millions from the NFF, kidnappers attacked a family member of mine’s home in Lagos, but thanks to God the intended victim was not at home.

“Shaken at the news, I called Mr. Amaju to inform him of my displeasure of his false public declarations in my regard and there and then the seed of resignation started to grow in me. Is this worth my peaceful family suffering?

“I signed my contract as Chief Coach of the super Eagles in July 2015 and was paid in August for July and August but did no longer get any payments till January 2016. My assistants were worse off as they received just a month’s pay as at January 2016. The NFF and its allies in public claimed otherwise.”

On the NFF technical committee he wrote, “The moment Ayansi was replaced as head of the infamous technical committee by Mr. Chris Green, we all knew that disaster and chaos was on the way.

“Chris Green is a man who late Stephen Keshi almost beat up just midway into the 2013 AFCON adventure in South Africa and eventually was going around all of Rwanda telling all who cared to listen that he won the 2013 AFCON for Nigeria and the 2014 World Cup qualification and not Keshi.

Why African artistes don’t receive BET awards on same stage as American colleagues –Okosi...Read it All On Tafia World

 

 

Alex Okosi, Senior Vice President and Managing Director, Viacom International Media Networks Africa (formerly MTV Networks Africa)

Alex Okosi is the Senior Vice President and Managing Director, Viacom International Media Networks Africa (formerly MTV Networks Africa). He tells Saturday Beats how Black Entertainment Television awards have made an impact on African artistes

You rose to become the Senior Vice president of Viacom, what can you attribute your success to?

I think it is God and hard work and persistence and then having a strong team of people I work with. I have also great mentors across the board that have helped me. A combination of these factors has been a key to my success. I have remained humble and I also have the humility to make sure that I work harder than the next guy every single day I wake up. My passion is to be able to have the world see our youth culture so that they will all know that Africa has incredible creativity and great content and great people that can do anything in the world.

There was a time entertainment was seen as a job for people who didn’t have any other thing to do, do you think that perception has changed?

It has completely changed.  Parents now tell their children to become musicians. The impact that Nigerian music is making around the world is awesome.   Parents now encourage their children to be part of talent shows and even to become musicians.

Is MTV Base strictly about music?

No. It is about youth and lifestyle. We have demonstrated that in a lot of things that we do. We do contents that we know that can engage our audience. We also deal with issues that people face.

Did you ever consider doing music when you were much younger?

No!

So where did the love for it come from?

I have always loved music. I love listening to music. I am in the entertainment business. I love sports as well. My passion comes from the fact that music is an important aspect of youth culture and it enables the youth culture to thrive.

How were you able to convince the MTV network to set up MTV Base Africa?

It was being able to demonstrate that we can run a creative and profitable business. When we arrived on the scene, there weren’t so many quality music videos on the continent, so we had to train people on how to make quality music videos. We did music video workshops and we created free music videos for people. That was a way we were able to serve as a catalyst and be able to get the industry going from a music video stand point. I think that has paid off. You see today, whenever you are watching a music channel, you don’t even know the videos that are from America or Europe because the quality is high. And that is what has enabled our artistes to be able to travel to other countries because people can now accept the quality of their music videos.

But what other impact could it have had on the artistes apart from the fact that their videos have improved?

The award show is recognition of who is great. When you have a global award like the BET that would be broadcast for over a million people around and people get to see you in countries like France, United Kingdom and United State, it is just like the World Cup. I think such award raises the game because you compete to be a part of that stage. So I think it serves as a catalyst for improving the quality. We don’t necessarily do it for music videos to be better but we do it to recognise who is great in terms of being an artiste for that year.

At what point did Black Entertainment Television decide to include categories for Africans in the awards?

The BET brand is such a powerful brand. Yes, it has been US eccentric.  We had launched International BET channel. For me, it was important for us to launch Africa BET channel. But before we did that, we introduced the Best Africa Act category. Through MTV Base, we had created an echo system where there is great music and great artistes. And including them in this category creates some exposure for us. The American market will also see the artistes in a big way.    It was important for us to start building an opportunity for us, maybe one day, we can have a BET Africa award gala.

But the controversy that always crops up during  BET award is the fact that Africans are usually not happy that their artistes are not recognised or given the award on the same stage as their American counterparts. What is your reaction to this?

The controversy gets a little bit lost. The BET award is a global award with a lot of categories, so not all the categories get recognised on the stage. There is a UK Act category, French Act category and then the US categories. Those awards are recognised on stage. But I think the main important thing is to recognise the opportunity that is being created, especially the exposure and the global recognition. This is sort of a building block towards having our own show. But in the mean time, let us start recognising the African brands through the awards. Anyway, we would still continue working on this and push the agenda. But our next frontier is to try and launch a BET Africa award.

Interest on loot recovered from ex-IG, Alams hits N1.9bn –EFCC....Read it All On Tafia World

Eniola Akinkuotu, Abuja

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission on Sunday said as of March 2015, it had realised N1,956,007,974 as interest on the loot recovered from convicted former Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Tafa Balogun; the late former Governor of Bayelsa State, Diepreye Alamieyeseigha, and other prominent Nigerians.

The EFCC further revealed that between March, 2012 and March, 2013, it generated N185m rent from the forfeited properties of a former Managing Director of the defunct Intercontinental Bank, Mr. Erastus Akingbola; a convicted ex-Governor of Edo State, Chief Lucky Igbinedion; a former Plateau State Governor, Senator Joshua Dariye; and nine others.

The EFCC said this in a write-up titled, ‘What EFCC did with recovered loot’, which was published on its official website.

The commission explained it received permission from the then President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, to spend N183m out of the interest generated on the recovered funds  when it had financial constraints.

The commission gave the breakdown while reacting to a petition written against its former Chairman, Mr. Ibrahim Lamorde, who is the subject of a Senate inquiry.

In a petition by a security consultant, George Uboh, Lamorde was, among other things, accused of diverting the proceeds of Balogun’s forfeitures between 2008 and 2013 at an interest of 12 per cent per annum, amounting to N2,154,625,556.37.

In its response, however, the anti-graft agency said the recovered funds were deposited in some interest-yielding accounts on the instruction of the courts.

The EFCC said, “The placement of forfeited money in interest-yielding accounts is not an entirely new idea. The court, in various rulings, ordered some funds to be placed in interest yielding accounts.  Rather than warehousing forfeited funds in current accounts for a long period, the commission lodged such funds, including those of Tafa Balogun, in interest yielding accounts.

“The interest element is always in line with CBN Cash Reserve Ratio and not fixed. Not a single kobo is taken out by the commission under this initiative. It is interesting to note that under this initiative, as of March 2015, the sum of N696,590,765.36 was generated as interest on recovered funds with Access Bank Plc.

“Another sum of N522,807,543.83 presently stands as interest generated from recovered funds with Ecobank Plc, while the subsidy recoveries with Enterprise Bank Plc has yielded the sum of N736,609,666.62.

“All the money is intact and is held on behalf of the Federal Government until all encumbrances to their release are cleared.”

The EFCC, however, admitted that it withdrew over N183m from the interest in Access Bank to run its affairs after taking permission from Jonathan, the then President.

The anti-graft agency added, “Sometime in 2011, the EFCC was facing budgetary constraints with adverse consequences for its operations. Consequently, the commission approached (former) President Goodluck Jonathan through the Attorney General of the Federation and received presidential approval to utilise interest, which accrued on recovered funds amounting to N183,124,185.94.

“It was on the basis of the approval received by the commission to utilise the accrued interest that the above instrument, Ref. EFCC/ACCESS/PS/01/01, dated January 9, 2012, was raised.”

The anti-graft agency also denied allegations that Lamorde manipulated the forfeitures and recoveries to the tune of N3.7bn from Alamieyeseigha for two years before formally documenting the transaction

The EFCC said the money realised from the disposal of Alamieyeseigha’s properties was remitted to the commission’s account by Real Estate Derivatives Limited on July 24, 2008 while the last payment from the sale of the ex-governor’s assets in Nigeria was received in March, 2009.

“On July 9, 2009, the total sum of N3,128,230,294.83, realised from the assets, was remitted to the Federal Government through the Federal Ministry of Finance in favour of Bayelsa State,” it added.

The agency said it was still in possession of N157,708,387.64 from the loot recovered from Alamieyseigha.

It said it would remit the money to the Federal Government’s account soon.

It stated, “The balance of N157,708,387.64 with the commission comprises the sum of  N97,708.387.64 forfeited by Pesal Nigeria Limited, which was remitted to the commission by Diamond Bank on June 12, 2015, and the sum of N60m discovered through routine account reconciliation in 2014.

“This balance will be remitted at the end of the ongoing audit of the commission’s exhibits and recoveries by a reputable international audit firm. Regarding the offshore assets of DSP Alamieyeseigha, the repatriation of the forfeited foreign assets was handled by the office of the Attorney General of the Federation, not the EFCC.”

The anti-graft agency dismissed allegations that Lamorde, while serving as the Director of Operations in September, 2008, diverted several cheques and drafts valued at N1,678,345,000.

According to the commission, looters, who return money through cheques and drafts, usually make deposits into Federal Government’s accounts in the Central Bank of Nigeria, which the EFCC has no access to.

Why I starved, chained my son – Pastor Francis....Read it All on Tafia World

 

Why I starved, chained my son – Pastor Francis

 

–might be charged with attempted murder

Afeez Hanafi

Francis Taiwo, a Celestial Church of Christ pastor who starved and kept his nine-year-old son in chains for months, has been arrested.

The 40-year-old pastor was apprehended by the police from the Onipanu division on Sunday at his church – CCC, Key of Joy Parish – in Ajibawo, Atan, in the Ado-Odo/Ota Local Government Area of Ogun State.

Police sources told PUNCH Metro that Francis might be charged with attempted murder, among other offences, after the completion of investigation.

“The pastor may be charged with attempted murder. His action was capable of killing the boy,” one of the sources said.

Our correspondent had reported that Francis chained his son, Korede, to the altar in the church for more than a month and starved him until he went into a coma in an attempt to cast out the supposed spirit that made the boy to steal.

Korede was, however, rescued on Friday during a joint operation by the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps and the police, after receiving a tip-off from residents of the area.

Korede’s stepmother, Kehinde, had also been arrested for allegedly aiding the cruelty meted out to the boy.

Korede, who said he aspired to be a doctor, had blamed his father for his stealing habit.

“It is true that I stole a pot of soup and a bowl of eba in our house. I also stole in the neighbourhood. My father’s inability to give money to my stepmother for the upkeep of the family caused it. When I was chained, my father and stepmother fed me twice a day. Some days, I was not given any food. I want to go back to school because I want to be a doctor in the future. I do not want to go back to my father’s house,” Korede had said.

Francis, a father of five who hails from Benin Republic, confessed to the act in his statement to the police, adding that Korede’s mother was late.

He said, “I was ordained a pastor in the CCC in 2012. I had divorced two wives, including Korede’s mother, Maria; she is late now. She had four children for me – two boys and two girls – before she divorced me in 2007 after she gave birth to Korede. I chained Korede because he is possessed. An evil spirit makes him to steal. He needs deliverance. His siblings are not living with me.”

A resident, who identified himself only as Elijah, said Francis had been warned on several occasions against unleashing violence on the victim.

He said, “His father has been chaining him for the past six months. He would chain him for hours and release him. His grouse is that Korede steals and runs away from home and he thinks a spirit is controlling the child. He once took him to a river in chains for deliverance.”

The Ogun State police spokesperson, SP Muyiwa Adejobi, said the case had been transferred to the child labour unit of the command for investigation.

“The case has been transferred to the Anti-Human Trafficking and Child Labour Unit of the command for necessary investigation and actions as directed by the Assistant Inspector-General of Police in charge of zone 2, AIG Abdulmajid Ali,” he said.

I abandoned school for robbery – Suspect....Read it All on Tafia World

I abandoned school for robbery – Suspect

 

Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Fatai Owoseni

Olaleye Aluko and Adewale Ogungbemi

The Lagos State Police Command has arrested a suspected robber, Ifeanyi Okorie, who said he started robbing after he finished his primary school education.

PUNCH Metro learnt that 22-year-old Okorie allegedly left Enugu State to rob at the Ladipo Market in the Mushin area when he was arrested.

It was gathered that two other accomplices, Ejike Francis and Oboho Nuel, were arrested with Okorie.

Our correspondent learnt that operatives of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad, Ikeja, recovered a pump-action rifle, a locally-made pistol and 13 unexpended cartridges from the suspects.

Speaking with PUNCH Metro, Okorie said after he left primary school, he decided not to further his education and to become a robber.

He said, “I abandoned schooling after my primary school education. I am based in Enugu State. I was arrested in Lagos State. I was caught in Ladipo Market in the Mushin area. The owner of the pump-action rifle is our gang leader. His name is Ebuka Mbajide.

“We had gone to the Mushin area to loot some shops when the police arrested us. They did not switch on the headlight of their patrol vehicle, so we did not notice them.”

A police source told one of our correspondents that the police were looking for three fleeing members of the gang.

He said, “The robbery suspects were transferred to SARS from the Olosan division. Most of them were based in Enugu State and came to Lagos for the robbery operation. They were six in the gang, but three of them have been arrested, while three persons escaped.”

The Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Fatai Owoseni, who paraded the suspects, said investigation was ongoing into the matter.

WATCH THE MUSIC VIDEO OF JOEL E DE EU BASED ARTIST ALL ON TAFIA WORLD.

 

JED RECORDS PRESENT'S ENOTIE JED OSAMUDIAME A.K.A JOEL D E HAIL FROM EDO STATE NIGERIA JOE D E IS A PROFESSIONAL MUSIC PRODUCER,SONGWRITER /AUDIO ENGINEER WHO HAVE BEEN PRODUCING HITS SONGS FOR NAIJA HOME BASE AND EU BASE ARTIST. CURRENTLY WORKING AS A PRODUCER AT JONETEZAS RECORDING STUDIO IN ITALY

 

 

 

 

“Nigerian Europe based artiste Mikeys says I will like to date Yemi Alade” read it on Tafia world.

Exclusive: “I will like to date Yemi Alade” – Nigerian Europe based artiste Mikeys

By Jhayke Adesanya

Mikeys is a versatile artiste based in Europe, he has proven his music to be one of the best Nigerian music in Europe where he is based. In this exclusive interview with Jhayke Adesanya of JAC he reveals more about himself
Can you tell us your name in full?
My names are Olayiwola Michael
You are a Nigerian but base in Europe?
Yeah
I’m a Lagos born producer based in Europe
Okay, that brings me to the question, how long have you been living in Europe?
I’ve been living in Europe for 6 years
So basically it’s been how many years since you started music professionally?
3 years, my mom was a chorister; I always go to choir rehearsals and all read more......

Nigeria must be restructured, says Ekweremadu

 

The Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu

John Ameh, Abuja

The Deputy President of the Senate, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, said on Tuesday that Nigeria must embrace restructuring as the surest solutions to its current economic challenges.

He argued that to succeed, the country must abandon its “feeding bottle federalism “ for true fiscal federalism.

The deputy Senate President also disagreed with the views expressed in certain quarters that all the country needed was good governance and not restructuring.

He spoke at the Second Annual Conference of the Young Parliamentarians Forum, which took place at the National Assembly in Abuja.

The theme was “Political /Economic Inclusion and Participation of Young People in Nigeria.”

He noted that the age-long culture of federating states running to the centre to ask for money monthly while resources wasted in their backyards would at best give temporary succour, but that the problem would continue.

 Ekweremadu added, “I disagree with those who say that Nigeria does not necessarily need restructuring, but good governance that will eliminate corruption.

“The truth is that it is difficult to tame corruption where the federating units virtually run on free federal allocations that some people see as national cake, not their own sweat.

“Conversely, the people will be more vigilant and ready to hold their leaders accountable when the federating units begin to live largely on internally generated revenues and their sweat.

“However, restructuring should be on incremental basis to ease the country into a more prosperous future.”

 He urged the nation’s youths to take active part in the affairs of their political parties.

Ekweremadu added, “We need to reinvigorate the youth arm of our political parties as in the days of the First Republic and pre-independence era when vibrant youth movements and arms of the political parties thrived and served as platforms for political apprenticeship for aspiring political leaders.

 “Unfortunately, there is little we can do about meaningful youth economic inclusion and employment until we restructure our behemoth federalism.

“I still hold the view that this feeding bottle federalism, this act of robbing Peter to pay Paul, which we have gradually enthroned as state policy since the fall of the First Republic, remains cause of our economic quandary.”

A member of the House of Representatives and National Chairman, Young Parliamentarians Forum of Nigeria, Mr. Nnanna Igbokwe, called for more economic empowerment for youths.

He stated that this should precede the clamour to reduce the eligibility age of young people to participate in politics.

Meanwhile, the Speaker of the House,  Mr. Yakubu Dogara, has stated that the country had little choice but to diversify its economy from dependence on oil revenue.

Dogara was speaking at the Chattered Institute of Taxation of Nigeria Abuja Tax Week on the Dilemma of Improving Tax Revenue in Tough Economic Times.

The Speaker told his audience how the House initiated a sectoral debate by ministers on the state of the economy to underscore the importance of diversifying the economy of the country.

Dogara also assured the session that administration of President Muhammadu Buhari was working hard to re-engineer Nigeria’s economic development.

He explained, “Midway into fiscal year 2016, the challenges of meeting yearning expectations is still as daunting as ever but the government is as resolute as it remains dedicated to bringing succour to the plight of the average Nigerian…

“To do this, the government deliberately tinkered with the federal budget in order to ensure that it delivers a 70:30 recurrent to capital spending per total budget expenditure in order to boost capital formation in the economy.

“We realise that capital project financing is vital to providing new infrastructure that would help build the badly needed capital formation for our economy to grow. We need to do even better in the 2017 budget and afterwards.”

On taxation, he said the news in most of the states was not cheering, except Lagos.”

He added, “Our tax buoyancy does not leave us with any much to cheer as well at -3.21 in 2015 from its previous levels of -0.08 for year 2014. Combined contribution of the states to tax revenue stood at 15.43 per cent of total tax revenue with Federal tax revenue making up 84.57 per cent for year 2015.

 “This was only a 2.38 percentage point increase in States’ Internally Generated Revenue. Among the states, Ebonyi State tops states with average annualised growth rate in Internally Generated Revenue  of 98.59 per cent, while Kwara State is lowest with 0.77 per cent.

“On the basis of IGR per states’ population, Lagos understandably tops the chart with N22, 954.65 per capita, while Zamfara is lowest with N 652.15 per capita as at 2015.

“This means that Lagos is more able to serve its people 35.2 times with tax revenue over its Zamfara counterpart.”