Religion can’t divide Nigeria – Lai Mohammed

Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, on Saturday, November 30th expressed confidence that it would be impossible for anybody to use religion to divide Nigeria.



The minister expressed the confidence in Lagos at the Anglican Diocese of Lagos 2019 Centenary Cultural Day and Award Ceremony. The centenary celebration had the theme: ”Stronger, Deeper and Higher”.


According to Mohammed, performances at the event by different ethnic groups in the diocese are indications that the unity of Nigeria is not negotiable. “What I have seen here today has again confirmed my belief in the indivisibility of this country. These performances have shown us how much we are united, as opposed to how much we are divided.

“I want to thank the diocese for making me appreciate the fact the church is playing a very big role in uniting the nation. It is impossible for anybody under the aegis of religion to divide this country”

Smart Adeyemi unseats Dino Melaye, wins Kogi West Senatorial district election

Smart Adeyemi, the APC candidate in the rerun of the Kogi West senatorial district election which held on Saturday November 30th, has been declared winner by INEC.



The Returning Officer of the election, Professor Olajide Lawal, announced this at the collation centre in Kogi State. According to Professor Lawal, Adeyemi polled a total of 88,373 votes to beat Senator Dino Melaye of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) who scored 62,133 votes.



Lawal said Ambassador Rufus Aiyenigba of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) came third in the poll with 659 votes followed by John Olabode and Adeyemi Taiwo of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) and Nigeria Elements Progressive Party (NEPP who) garnered 262 and 119 votes respectively.

Police arrest two kidnappers of Kaduna schoolgirls

Two of the suspected abductors of six female students and two teachers of Engravers College in Chikun local government area of the state, have been arrested, along with the security guard of the school. Spokesman of the Kaduna Police Command, DSP Yakubu Sabo announced the arrests on Saturday.



He said the security guard was arrested for alleged conspiracy in the abduction of the students. The girls were abducted from their school on October 3 and released on 26 October. The command also arrested 37 other suspected kidnappers and robbers including a five-man kidnap gang that killed their victims after collecting over two million Naira ransom in Kangimi village of Igabi Local Government Area.



During the parade of the suspects at the Kaduna state police command headquarters, Sabo, explained that the arrests were successfully carried out through coordinated raiding of criminal hideouts by Operatives of the IGP’s Special Tactical Squad (STS) and the Command’s Intelligence Response Team as well as active Community Engagement Initiative in line with the Inspector General of Police mandate on Community Policing.



The command also arrested suspects that escaped from Taraba state to hide in Kaduna state after carrying out several kidnapping operations in the northeastern state According to him, dangerous weapons including 10 AK47 Rifles, four pump actions, two locally made pistols, one locally-made gun, 154 live ammunitions, 17 cartridges, four stolen vehicles and other exhibits were recovered from the suspects during the operations.



Sabo also added that some of the suspects have confessed to a series of kidnappings within and outside the state including the killing of a Policeman in Igabi local government.

BBNaija's Ceec tackles Twitter users trolling her for showing solidarity to Uti Nwachukwu

So here is the gist. Some Twitter users, mostly BBNaija's Tacha fans, have been on social media all day, calling for actor, Uti Nwachukwu, to be dropped by a European Association which he represents.



According to them , Uti is in the habit of trolling women and should not be affiliated to such an organization. They accused Uti of attacking their favorite BBNaija pepper dem housemate, Tacha, while in the house and even when she was disqualified.



Well, Ceec who got a lot of support from Uti while she was in the BBNaija ''Double Wahala'' house, took to her Twitter handle to show solidarity to Uti in the wake of the recent developments.



Tacha's fans did not like her position and swam into her timeline to attack her and she responded to some of them. See their exchange below.

Lovely photos of Zahra Buhari and her hubby, Ahmed Indimi

Zahra, daughter of President Buhari, was pictured with her husband, Ahmed Indimi, at her event, "Conversations with Zahra," which held in Abuja on Saturday November 30th.

They look so great

African politicians now staging civilian coups - Goodluck Jonathan

Former President Goodluck Jonathan in his speech at the 17th convocation of Igbinedion University Okada, where he was conferred with the honorary degree of doctor of science, alleged that African politicians are now staging civilian coups.



The former President stated that these politicians are now replacing military coup with civilian coup because they want to own an office.



Jonathan backed his claim with the violence witnessed during the governorship elections in his home state Bayelsa and in Kogi state where a woman was burnt alive in her house.




“Let me plead with my fellow politicians, they should stop killing the people, destroying properties because people want to own office,” he said.

“What happened in the last governorship elections in my state, Bayelsa and Kogi state, especially in Kogi state where a woman was burnt alive in her house, is something that should not happen in any normal society. Something is fundamentally wrong with our political system.

“Only yesterday (Friday) in one African country, we were discussing the politics of our continent…most of us former heads of state, presidents, former presidents and vice presidents. The way African politics is going, we are replacing military coup with civilian coup and that cannot sustain the continent.”

I’ve not made money from Nollywood – Dayo Amusa laments

Actress and filmmaker, Dayo Amusa has lamented over not making any money from Nollywood even after shooting 12 movies and still counting.



Amusa in the interview with The Sun disclosed that she does other things that generate money for her but however expressed hope of making money from Nollywood someday.


“I do a lot of things that generate money for me. I have always done business even before I came into Nollywood and I am still in business. I came into Nollywood as an actress before becoming a movie producer and to date, I have shot 12 movies and still counting. Truth be told, I have not made money from Nollywood yet. After 12 movies I have not made the kind of money that I should make but I know I will make it. You see, there is a difference between making a huge profit and then, just getting your money back on your investment. I haven’t broken even" she said.



She also disclosed that her major challenge is that her movies are not yet being shown in cinemas.


“I love doing good movies and putting up good content. I think my major challenge now is that my movies are not showing in all cinemas in the country like I hoped and it saddens me. Their excuse is that my movies are indigenous and the titles are local but I am like ‘we get to watch foreign movies indigenous to different parts of the world yet subtitled and these movies are been shown in our cinemas so I ask the question ‘why can’t we encourage our local content?’ I want to believe that even if a movie is 100 per cent indigenous, that does not stop it from showing in cinemas as long as the movie is well subtitled.

“It has greatly affected me as an independent film maker, I do most of my productions from my purse. It is not like I get grants and it really eats moviemakers up when we don’t get the opportunity to showcase what we have.

“Even if they feel we are not getting it right, there is a way they can inform us that this is what you need to achieve this and that. But they just label it local content, indigenous this and indigenous that, giving what we do all sorts of names but the fact is, when you preview a job and story wise you have it, picture wise you have it, quality wise and artistic whatever you have it, then why the barrier? Why can’t such a movie be seen in all cinemas across Nigeria.

“But they are giving excuses that when cinema going audiences hear the title, they will not like it. Who says so? Yes, a title could have a very positive impact on a production but a title is a title, be it local or English or what have you. An indigenous title cannot stop a good film from flying at the box office,” she adds with emphasis.