Why Jonathan did not visit Chibok—Yakasai.

Elder statesman and chieftain of the PDP Alhaji Tanko Yakasai over the weekend explained why he thinks President Jonathan didn't visit Chibok. He said:

“Why I think the president’s decision not to visit the area is not bad is because we were all aware of the deteriorating level of insecurity in that part of the country. We all know it was too risky for the president to visit Chibok at that time. The president is not a soldier, soldiers are the people that should be sent there. If I was the president and such an incident occurred, the right thing for me to do was to send soldiers and to be frank, our soldiers are doing their best. We are hearing on radio and reading on newspapers how soldiers are being killed but yet they are doing their best.

I don’t know what is happening, the Minister of Defence, Ali Gussy, is a northerner, the National Security Adviser is a northerner, the Inspector General of Police is northerner, the Chief of Defence Staff is also a northerner. “All Nigerian soldiers are under his order, if all these people cannot address the problem how would it be easy for the president to do it? Don’t forget that suicide bombers are now experts, so what will happen if they ambushed the president and something bad happened to him? Do you think his people will accept that? Except if people want the country to return to the Niger Delta militants era.”

GEJ to Nigerians-You would praise me when I leave office

President Jonathan says Nigerians will praise and appreciate him more when he leaves office. He said all the criticisms he has received from Nigerians so far is expected of any serving leader. He said it's only when leaders leave office that people will begin to see and appreciate their good works.

Pres. Jonathan made this remark while receiving the state Governor Dickson Seriake and traditional rulers from Bayelsa state at the Presidential villa in Abuja today December 30th

"I always say that I will not even expect praises now because hardly do people praise serving leaders. It is when you leave, people will begin to know. When you leave, people will begin to compare what you have done over the period vis-a-vis what others have done, then they will compare you with whoever takes over.

 Probably that is the time some people will begin to say good about you. But I will do my best to make sure that we do change things. We are trying to create enabling environment for our economy to thrive irrespective of the challenges we are having in the petroleum sector and the security challenges we have. I will do my best so that by the time I will leave, you will be able to say that when our son was there, he served the country well so that one day, another son of Bayelsa may be given another opportunity to serve Nigerians", he said.

Check out Kim and Kanye's new home

Kim and Kanye West just bought the house next door to their Hidden Hills dream mansion in Los Angeles so they can expand their property ... to nearly five acres

According to TMZ, the couple are planning to build a giant park for kids, a basketball court and a full music studio for Kanye - so he doesn't have to venture off to Paris to record his albums. Plus a full movie theater, game room. a spa for Kim as well as a detached guest house.

Seven Boko Haram members die in explosive-laden van in Borno

Seven Boko Haram members were killed after explosives placed in a van exploded at the Chikwarki market in Biu, Borno state on Monday December 29th.

"A Toyota pick-up van, loaded with maize and beans with IED hidden under them, belonging to Boko Haram insurgents, exploded near Chikwarkir village of Biu, killing all the occupants of the van. As you know, it is harvest time and people are taking their farm produce to the market; but thank God, the bomb exploded before they could get to the market,” a security source told Punch

'I will not be intimidated into silence' - Rotimi Amaechi tweets

The Rivers state governor posted this a day after the Department of State Security warned politicians to refrain from making inciting remarks which could throw the nation into turmoil.

Jada Pinkett, 43, stuns in bikini on the cover of Shape magazine

The 43 year old mother of two posed in a bikini for the January/February cover of Shape magazine where she talked about her body, fitness regime and bedroom secrets. 

"When my husband of almost 20 years can’t take his eyes off me? That’s amazing. But the number one reason I go to the gym is because it keeps me sane… I can deal with whatever’s coming at me.'

Actress Nkiru Sylvanus set to wed Oge Okoye's ex-husband, Stanley Duru

Last week I told y'all about a light skinned Nollywood actress who is planning to marry the ex-husband of another light skinned actress . Some of you guessed the ladies I was talking about - Oge Okoye and Nkiru Sylvanus. Yep, Nkiru is set to marry Stanley Duru, Oge Okoye's ex-husband and father of her two kids.

Like I said in the last post, Stanley was first Nkiru's boyfriend but while they were having issues he met Oge, she got pregnant and they did some kind of introduction. They broke up and now he's back in Nkiru's life. They were supposed to get married this past Saturday Dec. 27th but sources close to Nkiru say it didn't happen and that they will likely marry early 2015. Nkiru will eventually release a press statement to address the drama.

I hear Oge is furious about this and people close to her say though she's moved on from Stanley, she's devastated he's trying to humiliate her by marrying her colleague.

Read this transgender's heartbreaking suicide note he posted hours before killing himself

17 year old transgender teen Leelah (Josh) Alcorn committed suicide on Sunday Dec. 28th by walking in front of a tractor trailer on a highway in Ohio. A few hours later, her suicide note, which she posted on her Tumblr page through scheduled publishing, went up. In the heartbreaking suicide note, she blamed her death on her religious parents who she said refused to acknowledge her gender and forbade her from transitioning into a girl. Read her suicide note below...

If you are reading this, it means that I have committed suicide and obviously failed to delete this post from my queue.

Please don’t be sad, it’s for the better. The life I would’ve lived isn’t worth living in… because I’m transgender. I could go into detail explaining why I feel that way, but this note is probably going to be lengthy enough as it is. 

To put it simply, I feel like a girl trapped in a boy’s body, and I’ve felt that way ever since I was 4. I never knew there was a word for that feeling, nor was it possible for a boy to become a girl, so I never told anyone and I just continued to do traditionally “boyish” things to try to fit in.

When I was 14, I learned what transgender meant and cried of happiness. After 10 years of confusion I finally understood who I was. I immediately told my mom, and she reacted extremely negatively, telling me that it was a phase, that I would never truly be a girl, that God doesn’t make mistakes, that I am wrong. If you are reading this, parents, please don’t tell this to your kids. Even if you are Christian or are against transgender people don’t ever say that to someone, especially your kid. That won’t do anything but make them hate them self. That’s exactly what it did to me.

My mom started taking me to a therapist, but would only take me to christian therapists, (who were all very biased) so I never actually got the therapy I needed to cure me of my depression. I only got more christians telling me that I was selfish and wrong and that I should look to God for help.

When I was 16 I realized that my parents would never come around, and that I would have to wait until I was 18 to start any sort of transitioning treatment, which absolutely broke my heart. The longer you wait, the harder it is to transition. I felt hopeless, that I was just going to look like a man in drag for the rest of my life. On my 16th birthday, when I didn’t receive consent from my parents to start transitioning, I cried myself to sleep.

I formed a sort of a “f*** you” attitude towards my parents and came out as gay at school, thinking that maybe if I eased into coming out as trans it would be less of a shock. Although the reaction from my friends was positive, my parents were pissed. They felt like I was attacking their image, and that I was an embarrassment to them. They wanted me to be their perfect little straight christian boy, and that’s obviously not what I wanted.

So they took me out of public school, took away my laptop and phone, and forbid me of getting on any sort of social media, completely isolating me from my friends. This was probably the part of my life when I was the most depressed, and I’m surprised I didn’t kill myself. I was completely alone for 5 months. No friends, no support, no love. Just my parent’s disappointment and the cruelty of loneliness.

At the end of the school year, my parents finally came around and gave me my phone and let me back on social media. I was excited, I finally had my friends back. They were extremely excited to see me and talk to me, but only at first. Eventually they realized they didn’t actually give a s**t about me, and I felt even lonelier than I did before. The only friends I thought I had only liked me because they saw me five times a week.

After a summer of having almost no friends plus the weight of having to think about college, save money for moving out, keep my grades up, go to church each week and feel like s**t because everyone there is against everything I live for, I have decided I’ve had enough. I’m never going to transition successfully, even when I move out. I’m never going to be happy with the way I look or sound. I’m never going to have enough friends to satisfy me. I’m never going to have enough love to satisfy me. I’m never going to find a man who loves me. I’m never going to be happy. Either I live the rest of my life as a lonely man who wishes he were a woman or I live my life as a lonelier woman who hates herself. There’s no winning. There’s no way out. I’m sad enough already, I don’t need my life to get any worse. People say “it gets better” but that isn’t true in my case. It gets worse. Each day I get worse.

That’s the gist of it, that’s why I feel like killing myself. Sorry if that’s not a good enough reason for you, it’s good enough for me. As for my will, I want 100% of the things that I legally own to be sold and the money (plus my money in the bank) to be given to trans civil rights movements and support groups, I don’t give a s**t which one. The only way I will rest in peace is if one day transgender people aren’t treated the way I was, they’re treated like humans, with valid feelings and human rights. Gender needs to be taught about in schools, the earlier the better. My death needs to mean something. My death needs to be counted in the number of transgender people who commit suicide this year. I want someone to look at that number and say “that’s f***ed up” and fix it. Fix society. Please.

Goodbye,

(Leelah) Josh Alcorn

Boko Haram kills 15 in Borno town

Suspected members of Boko Haram killed at least 15 people in a fresh attack on Kautikari, a village near Chibok community in Borno state on Monday December 29th.

"They were about 20, well-armed. They came in four-wheel drive vehicles and some motorcycles. Initially, I thought they were soldiers. The man running behind me was gunned down as I was fleeing. Afterwards, there were 15 people lying dead in the streets,” ,” a survivor, Jonah Umaru, told newsmen on phone.

AirAsia flight found upside down at the bottom of the sea, passengers found holding hands

Indonesian search officials have now confirmed they have located the fuselage of AirAsia flight 8501 on sonar radar, upside down on the sea floor, not far from where three of the bodies from the doomed AirAsia flight were found holding hands when discovered floating in the Java Sea. Officials from Basarnas, Indonesia's search and rescue agency, say the plane wreckage has been located in 24 to 30 metres of water and one of the seven confirmed recovered bodies was wearing a life jacket. 

Lieutenant Airman Tri Wobowo, who was co-piloting Indonesia's C130 Herclues aircraft, was the first to discover debris from the plane and witnessed the tragic scene. 

'There were seven to eight people. Three of them held hands,' he told a local newspaper. 

A plane door, a blue suitcase, oxygen tank and the remnants of an emergency slide were among the objects found about 10km from where the plane was last detected on radar. But the most harrowing discoveries were the corpses floating in the Java Sea - about 100 miles off the coast - and search chiefs fully expect none of the 162 passengers and crew on board made it out of the wreckage alive.

Family members who have been at the airport since the crash happened on Sunday December 28th, are expected to come forward to identify the remains of their loved ones.

Source: UK Daily Mail

LEAKED - Timetable and Schedule of activities for 2015 general election

Above is INEC Timetable for the 2015 General Elections. Found it on Premium Times. See the rest of it after the cut...

POLITICS - VP Sambo and Gen Buhari fail to present their certificates to INEC

Nigeria's Vice President and running mate of President Goodluck Jonathan, Namadi Sambo and APC Presidential Candidate, Gen Muhammadu Buhari, have both failed to present their University Degree certificates to the Independent National Electoral Commission as part of documents to be tendered before the electoral commission by any aspirant

Arc. Namadi Sambo who presented his nomination forms to INEC on Dec 10th stated in his form that his BSc and MSc certificates from his Alma mater, Ahmadu Bello University ABU got burnt in a fire incident. He however tendered a "To Whom It May Concern" letter from authorities of the ABU stating  that he was a student of their school. 

The letter in part read  

“I certify that the above-named person having completed an approved course of study and passed the prescribed examinations was awarded the Bachelor of Science (Architecture) with Second Class Honours (Lower Division) in 1976 by the Senate of this University. His original certificate got burnt. Please treat his case in view of this certification. Thank you.”

On his part, APC Presidential candidate, General Buhari said he could not tender any of his academic certificates before INEC because all his certificates are with the Military board and not at his disposal. An affidavit sworn by Gen Buhari rtd at High court in Abuja on November 24th to this effect reads in part,  

"I am the above-named person and deponent to this affidavit therein. All my academic qualifications documents as filled in my presidential form, President APC/001/2015, are currently with the Secretary, Military Board as of the time of presenting this affidavit. The affidavit is made in good faith and for record purpose,”.

All political aspirants are expected to tender their academic certificates while submitting their nomination forms. Other aspirants including President Jonathan have tendered their certificates to the electoral body.

UPDATE ON MISSING AIRASIA JET: 40 bodies & debris of jet found floating in sea

Indonesian officials say they have found 40 dead bodies, luggage, a plane door, and an emergency slide floating in the water off the coast of Borneo Island. They are all from the AirAsia flight that disappeared two days ago after losing communications with control tower after encountering storm clouds.

At least 40 of the bodies, many of them not wearing life jackets , have been removed from the water and taken from the scene on board an Indonesian navy ship. Images on Indonesian television showed half-naked bloated bodies bobbing in the sea. Several pieces of red, white and black debris were earlier spotted in the Java Sea near Borneo island which officials later confirmed to be debris from the missing jet.

Meanwhile family members who were at the airport waiting for any good news from the missing planes, watched live on TV as the rescue team found bodies of loved ones floating on the sea and was being recovered. 

POLITICS - Looks like Tinubu didn't have faith in Buhari once, called him an agent of destabilization

Presidential spokesperson Reuben Abati posted this very revealing Wikileaks docs on his website. Back in 2003, Tinubu didn't want Buhari to be president because he believed he was an agent of destabilization. That was 11 years ago, he's since changed his mind...:-). Read the doc after the cut

Defence HQ denies claims of Cameroon conducting airstrikes on Boko Haram camps in Nigeria

There were reports yesterday that Cameroonian army conducted airstrikes on some Boko Haram camps within the Nigerian territory captured by Boko Haram. The Nigerian Military says it's not true.

[EBOLA UPDATE] - First case of Ebola recorded in Scotland

The first case of Ebola virus has been recorded in Scotland. According to the Scottish government, the Ebola patient is a health worker who arrived Scotland from Sierra Leone today December 29th where she was helping to care for Ebola victims.

She arrived Glasgow in Scotland from London Heatthrow airport on a British Airways flight. All passengers on-board the flight are now being traced for examination. Meanwhile the woman has been quarantined at the Gartnavel hospital.

LAWMA to convert popular Ojota dump site to golf course

Have you ever passed by Ojota going towards Maryland in Lagos? Then you would have noticed the Olusosun dumpsite that stinks to the high heavens. The news is that Lagos State Waste Management Authority (LAWMA) said yesterday that it would soon turn the Olusosun dumpsite in Ojota into a golf course. Tagged as Nigeria’s most popular refuse dump, Olusosun has been a subject of foreign documentaries in the past because of the many activities of scavengers at the site.

The managing director of LAWMA, Mr Ola Oresanya, said the golf course project would come under the agency’s second 10-year-rolling plan.

“In the rolling plan, we are focusing downstream and our downstream is at the disposal sites. Our landfills development is a real focus, we already sign contract for development of our state of the heart landfills sites at Epe and Badagry. And those landfill sites are the real focus for the next rolling plan and a site also will be located in Ogun state. That is around Mowe/Ibafo area that we took over. Then we will close down the Olusosun dumpsite completely and turn it into golf course. We will continue to build transfer stations and material recovery plants in Lagos”.

“Those are parts of the ten year rolling plan and we will increase our waste conversion to almost 70 per cent to 80 per cent of the wastes we generate in Lagos. The wastes will now be converted to something very useful within that ten years rolling plan. Then, we want to make sure that we get the economics of waste management very well and the economics must be perfect within the next ten year. So those are the key ingredients of those plans.’’

Sofia Vergara and Joe Manganiello are engaged..check out her bling

Six months after they began dating, hot actress Sofia Vergara, 42, and equally hot actor Joe Manganiello, 38, are engaged. The mother of one showed off her large diamond engagement ring while on vacation in Hawaii with her beau this week.

Joe reportedly popped the question on Christmas day. Sofia ended her engagement to ex Nick Loeb in May and immediately began dating Joe. Congrats to them. Two of the hottest bodies in Hollywood.

Rihanna's sonogram released - MTO insist Rihanna is 9 weeks Pregnant

While Rihanna is in St. Barths showing off her flat tummy, bare boobs and enjoying the holidays, MediaTakeOut is still insisting she's pregnant and produced a sonogram that allegedly belongs to her. MTO wrote;

"MediaTakeOut.com reported a few weeks ago that a rock solid snitch told us that Rihanna was pregnant. Well today . . .in our inbox popped a pic - allegedly showing Rihanna's first sonnogram. We're told that the baby is 9 weeks along

See the sonogram after the cut...