British Fraudster Vanishes Over Millions Of Missing Money In Spain

The perennial joker, who regaled the coast with stories and jokes at fundraising galas, on radio shows and in his regular restaurant column in the Euro Weekly News, could never quite face up to the truth.Somehow he liked to believe that he was one of the chosen few, a friend to the stars, including Joan Collins, Anthony Worrall Thomson and James Hewitt. And that he was something of a celebrity himself. Driving a top-of-the-range Mercedes and living in a palatial home in Elviria, near Marbella, ‘Sir’ Nigel, as he insisted on being called, liked to give the impression of being a staunch pillar of the community.

The truth however is rather different: For Goldman is a fraudster, who simply cannot help himself.

Arsenal Sign Kallstrom From Spartak Moscow

Arsenal have signed Swedish midfielder, Kim Kallstrom, from Spartak Moscow on a loan deal till the end of the season.Kallstrom, 31, is an experienced footballer, who has been signed as a stop-gap measure, with Aaron Ramsey out for six weeks and Jack Wilshere still struggling with his ankle. Mathieu Flamini is also suspended for three games, after picking up a red card against Southampton.

Real Madrid Unveil £330m Stadium Redesign

The Spanish football club’s new Santiago Bernabeu stadium will be designed by a group led by a German firm, GMP Architekten, and includes Spanish architects Ribas & Ribas.

Some Real Madrid directors were reportedly unsure about the involvement of Josep Ribas, an architect and a season ticket holder at FC Barcelona.

Work will begin on the redesign at the end of the season, including the addition of a retractable roof, and is hoped to be completed by 2017.

Some of the funding will apparently come from selling the naming rights to the stadium.

Real Madrid President Florentino Perez said: “Our commitment is

 Satya Nadella Likely To Be Microsoft's CEO

The nearly six-month-long search for Microsoft's next CEO is nearing an end, and news reports indicate it's likely the technology giant will turn to Satya Nadella, executive vice president of its Cloud and Enterprise group, to lead the company.

Stephen Brashear/AP

Widely followed tech writer Kara Swisher posted on the Re/code news site Thursday that Nadella is "the likeliest internal candidate" to be named to succeed CEO Steve Ballmer, who announced last summer that he would be retiring.

 Modalities For National Conference

NIGERIA’s effort to bring its citizens together and discuss the fundamental terms of their coexistence is set to become a reality.

Indeed, the Federal Government yesterday released the modalities of the national conference where such conditions would be mutually negotiated.

A total of 492 delegates are to be nominated for the national conference. Out of this, President Goodluck Jonathan is likely to choose 181.

The Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) Anyim Pius Anyim, disclosed this yesterday in Abuja during a media briefing.        

According to him, out of the 27 clusters of stakeholders outlined in the proposed composition of the conference, the President has power over six categories including the nomination of the chairperson, deputy chairperson and the secretary.

Why Do You Go Away?

“Why do you go away? So that you can come back. So that you can see the place you came from with new eyes and extra colors. And the people there see you differently, too. Coming back to where you started is not the same as never leaving.”

I’m Not Aware Shekau Is Dead... U.S. Ambassador

I have been a student of Africa and African history for a long time. I have always read a lot about Nigeria and in fact, many, many years ago, I was a school teacher in Kenya in the 70s. One of the books I had to teach to Kenyan students was Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe. Put aside the image of some American trying to teach an African novel, I don’t know if my students learnt anything or not, but that introduction to the literature of Nigeria has remained with me ever since. I remember when I was very young, we heard of the tragedy of the Biafran war and I have always stayed with anything Nigerian and so on.

Chelsea Manager Jose Mourinho Feels Manchester City Are Favourites

Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho feels Manchester City are favourites for Monday’s Premier League clash at the Etihad Stadium.

While Mourinho saw his side draw 0-0 with West Ham on Wednesday, City moved top of the table thanks to a 5-1 victory over Tottenham at White Hart Lane.

Manuel Pellegrini’s free-scoring side are now a point ahead of Arsenal and three clear of third-placed Chelsea.

Ahead of Chelsea’s visit to City, Mourinho said: “Are they favourites? Yes. Are they even favourites to score again four, five, six goals? Yes.

“But the result is 0-0 and we go there to compete and to play.”

Zimbabwe Adopts Chinese Yuan As Legal Tender

Zimbabwe’s central bank announced on Wednesday it would accept the Chinese yuan and three other Asian currencies as legal tender as economic relations have improved in recent years.

“Trade and investment ties between Zimbabwe, China, India, Japan and Australia have grown appreciably,” said Charity Dhliwayo, acting governor of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe.

Russia Identifies Volgograd Suicide Bombers

Russian authorities have identified the suicide bombers responsible for two attacks that killed 34 people in the city of Volgograd last month.

Police said on Thursday they have also and arrested two suspected accomplices in the violence-plagued Dagestan province.

The National Anti-Terrorism Committee identified the bombers as Asker Samedov and Suleiman Magomedov, called them members of the "Buinaksk terrorist group", and said it had known their names for some time.

Two brothers, suspected of helping send the bombers to Volgograd, were also detained in Dagestan on Wednesday, the committee said. It identified them as Magomednabi and Tagir Batirov and said the investigation was continuing.

British Police Track Madeleine McCann Suspects In Portugal

Four detectives are due to meet senior officers from Portugal’s Policia Judiciara to ask them to sanction the arrest and questioning of the three men.

They are believed to have been close to the McCann’s apartment in Praia da Luz on the night that Madeleine disappeared in 2007. 

Mobile phone evidence also revealed that they frequently called each other in the hours following the three-year-old’s disappearance.

Kate and Gerry McCann, both 45, were said to be anxious at this latest development in a search that has continued for over six years.

British Fugitive Who Escaped To Costa Del Sol Back In Jail

Gerard Hagan, 29, fled to the Costa del Sol after he was locked up in 2008 for his role in a botched cocaine smuggling operation.

He has now been ordered to serve the remaining six years of his ten year sentence, with an additional six months for escaping custody.

Last year he was re-captured by Spanish police outside a gym in Estepona, in an operation coordinated by the National Crime Agency, and then extradited back to England in November.

Police say Hagan, from Liverpool, had been on the run since escaping Kirkham Prison in Preston in July 2012.

Laughter is timeless. Imagination has no age. Dreams are forever. ~ Walt Disney 

PDP Closes Gap

The All Progressives Congress (APC) yesterday lost its short-lived majority in the House of Representatives, in a reversal of fortune caused by the defection of one of its members to the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP).

Rep Joseph Haruna Kigbu from Nasarawa State yesterday announced dumping the APC, a week after two of his colleagues from Adamawa took the same action.

When 37 lawmakers left the PDP on December 18, APC emerged as the new majority party with 174 to PDP’s 171 members in the House.

But the numbers kept changing since the resumption of the House from recess last week Tuesday.

PIC FROM AU MEETING 2014

492 Delegates For National Conference

The Federal Government on Thursday released modalities for the conduct of the National Conference tentatively fixed to last for three months.

Releasing the modalities in Abuja, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Senator Anyim Pius Anyim, said that 492 delegates are expected to be nominated from January 30 to February 20.

ECOWAS Approves $50m For Lagos-Abidjan Road’s Feasibility Studies

The Heads of State and Government of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) have approved the sum of $50 million as contributory fund for the feasibility studies and design of the six lanes Lagos-Abidjan highway project.

The decision was taken during a meeting of ECOWAS Ministers of Works and Infrastructure chaired by President Goodluck Jonathan on the sidelines of the ongoing 22nd Ordinary Session of the Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the African Union in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Presidential Ticket Open To All Zones

Contrary to expectations that the leadership of the All Progressives Congress (APC) may zero in on a particular geopolitical zone for its presidential candidate to contest the 2015 general election, the party has actually thrown the race open with a view to fielding the best from any part of the country.

Irrespective, the North-west and North-east geopolitical zones are already locked in a battle over which of the two zones would clinch the APC presidential ticket.

 Snowden For Nobel Peace Prize

Edward Snowden has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize by two Norwegian lawmakers, who say the NSA whistleblower contributed to “transparency and global stability” by revealing the depth and sophistication of the global surveillance apparatus

The Slogan

"Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful people with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan 'press on' has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race."

 Calvin Coolidge     

Govt Approves N240.2m Locally-Made Vehicles 

The Federal Executive Council (FEC) has approved N240.2 million to procure 37 SUVs for each of the states’ chair Coordinators of the Subsidy Reinvestment Programme in all the states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

The Minister of Labour, Emeka Wogu, who broke the news at the end of the weekly FEC meeting, in Abuja presided over by President Goodluck Jonathan, said the cost of the purchase is inclusive of Value Added Tax (VAT), adding that the transaction would be carried out within one week.

Tough Time Awaits Boko Haram

President Goodluck Jonathan said yesterday that with the appointment of new Chief of Defence Staff and service chiefs, tough time awaits Boko Haram, even as the House of Representatives ordered investigation into the arrest of 320 suspected terrorists in Rivers State.

The President’s assurance came 48 hours after gunmen suspected to be Boko Haram killed over 70 people including worshippers and villagers in Adamawa and Borno states last Sunday.

In one attack, some men armed with guns and explosives killed 18 people at a Catholic church during a morning mass in Waga Chakawa village in Adamawa State.

The Happenings In the Country Call for Worry – IBB to Jonathan

Former Nigerian Head of State, General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida today released a statement through his media aide, Kassim Afegbua more or less advising the President to see things a bit differently especially beyond what his aides tell him.

The statement reads: “The happenings in the country in recent times call for worry if we must be sincere with ourselves. Every day, the nation is treated with one form of political issue or the other. From security challenges to economic challenges, Nigerians are asking several questions that deserve responses from government at the various levels. Democracy is when it is a people-driven government with its fundamental principles of freedom of expression, freedom of association, rule of law, accountability, probity and equal representation amongst others.

OKO: Loving Yourself Is Not Narcissistic

I have made some friends, and have many acquaintances, but the quantity of people I bring into my life is unimportant. If we wanted to be surrounded by people at a party, we could be. If we wanted a few choice people to come visit us in the hospital when we are sick, that is a much harder thing to ensure.

The only way to do that — the only way to single out the friends who should be in your life, and who love you for you — is to be yourself. Be kind, receptive, and compassionate, of course, but don’t do it while diluting your persona to please others.

Ex-NAICOM Chief Gets 15- Year Sentence

An Abuja High Court on Wednesday sentenced Okechukwu Chukwulozie, a former Commissioner of the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) to 15 years in prison over N10.4 million fraud.

The Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), in 2007 charged Chukwulozie, his wife, Angela; and a former Deputy Commissioner in charge of Finance and Administration, Adedolapo Ogungbe on 15 counts of N10.4 million fraud.

Delivering judgment, Justice Mudashiru Oniyangi, said the court sentenced Chukwulozie to three years on each of the five counts he is convicted for and it will run concurrently.

Oniyangi, who did not give the convict an option of fine, held that the ICPC had proved all the ingredients of Section 19 of the ICPC Act against him.

 Predicting the fortunes of Nigerian Pleyers

Kelechi  Iheanacho

A number of Nigerian players have already moved clubs during this transfer window. Some, like Sunday Mba, have ended long transfer odysseys by finally making a move, others, like Kenneth Omeruo, have sealed a short-term move in a bid to earn more game time ahead of the World Cup

Kelechi Iheanacho has been rewarded for his sublime displays with a switch to elite English club Manchester City and Elderson Echiejile is also enjoying life in new surroundings having transferred from Braga to Monaco.

Enugu Deputy Gov Fights Back

In a statement issued in Enugu yesterday, he said that the action of the officials, who stormed his house on Monday, was intended to humiliate him and show how “politically impotent” he was.

Speaking on the evacuation of the 3,000 birds from his official residence and the statement by Governor Sullivan Chime’s Press Secretary, Mr. Chukwudi Achife on Monday claiming that the poultry constituted a health hazard to people working in the Government House, Onyebuchi said those behind the act were hiding their actual motive.

President Obama Delivers 2014 State Of The Union

When US President Barack Obama delivered his sixth State of the Union address Tuesday night, those listening at home may have heard variations on a theme that Obama focused on in his fifth address: the US economy and a growing inequality gap.

A Pew Research Center poll recently found that the majority of Democrats and Republicans alike feel that economic inequality has grown over the last decade. The same researchers also found that an overwhelming number of Americans are in favor of extending federal benefits for the long-term unemployed and raising the minimum wage.

IGP Redeploys DIGs And AIGs

The Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Mohammed Abubakar, has redeployed four Deputy Inspectors-General of Police (DIG) and three Assistant Inspectors-General of Police (AIG).

This is contained in a statement issued by the Force Public Relations Officer, CSP Frank Mba, in Abuja on Tuesday.

Boko Haram: Death Toll In Borno, Adamawa Hits 138

Hours after Boko Haram struck in Borno and Adamawa states, grim details of the attacks emerged yesterday.

The death toll rose from 74, which was reported yesterday, to 138.

Eighty-five died in Kawuri village in Borno State, and 53 in Chakawa, Adamawa State.

No fewer than 16 others are believed to be missing in Borno, it was learnt.

UCH Breaks New Grounds In Open Heart Surgery

The University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan, the first teaching hospital in Nigeria, has scored another first in medicine, with its open heart surgery, a feat which attracted wide accolades. OSEHEYE OKWUOFU writes.

The University College Hospital (UCH) Ibadan, Nigeria’s premier teaching hospital has recorded a major breakthrough in medicine in the country when it successfully carried out a “bloodless” open-heart surgery on a patient.

"When we are weak then we are powerful."

I thank God for his grace in my life, for my work is not done. For his is grace is sufficient for me and his power is made perfect in my weakness. @CoachRNC