I will miss Fashola dad`s jokes, says Victor Olaiya

Sir Victor Olaiya, a high life maestro
and childhood friend of the late Pa
Ademola Fashola, on Monday said he would miss the deceased a lot.
Fashola, 79, the father of the Lagos State Governor, Mr Babatunde Fashola, died in the early hours of Monday in Lagos. Olaiya, who was among the early callers at the
residence of the deceased, told newsmen that he was humorous and loved to make people happy.
“I will miss his jokes and his smile. We were together many years ago when he was at Daily Times. “He was nice, humble and kind and it would be difficult not to miss somebody like that,’’ the music legend said.
Meanwhile, Alhaji Bolaji Fashola, the head of the family, said they were devastated by the news of the death of the septuagenarian.
He told newsmen that members of the family were shattered by the death of the deceased.
The family patriarch described the
deceased as a kind man who would do everything to satisfy everybody.
He said that he was with late pa Fashola on Sunday and never knew he would be gone so soon.
“I was with him on Sunday. He was
breathing heavily and he said he wanted to sleep and I left for home.
“I was shocked when I got the news today that he had died. It is so sad. Everybody is shattered,’’ the patriarch said. (NAN)

Pa Fashola’s death a glorious transition – APC

The All Progressives Congress (APC) has commisserated with Gov. Babatunde Fashola of Lagos State and his family on the loss of their patriarch, Pa. Ademola Fashola.
In a statement issued in Abuja on Tuesday by its National Chairman, Chief Bisi Akande, the party said though the loss of a loved one, especially a worthy father like Pa
Fashola, is always painful even at a ripe age, his exit is nothing but a glorious transition.
”A father who gave the people of Lagos state a first-rated Governor and a man of integrity and rare vision like His Excellency, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, must be appreciated and celebrated both in life and in death.
”This is why we believe that the death of Pa Fashola, despite the painful loss that it is, should also be used as an opportunity to celebrate his life, not just by his family but by all of us,” it said.
APC described Pa Fashola as a humane, humble and unassuming man, whose sharp sense of humour never escaped anyone
who met him in his life time, saying even being the father of an excellent Governor neither affected his humility nor dulled his
sense of humour.
The party prayed that God will give Gov. Fashola and his family the fortitude to bear their great loss and also grant eternal rest to the soul of the departed.
It urged Gov. Fashola to continue to fly his family flag, the Lagos flag and the Nigerian flag very high, saying this is one of the best tributes he can pay to his father.

Pa Fashola’s death a glorious transition – APC

The All Progressives Congress (APC) has commisserated with Gov. Babatunde Fashola of Lagos State and his family on the loss of their patriarch, Pa. Ademola Fashola.
In a statement issued in Abuja on Tuesday by its National Chairman, Chief Bisi Akande, the party said though the loss of a loved one, especially a worthy father like Pa
Fashola, is always painful even at a ripe age, his exit is nothing but a glorious transition.
”A father who gave the people of Lagos state a first-rated Governor and a man of integrity and rare vision like His Excellency, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, must be appreciated and celebrated both in life and in death.
”This is why we believe that the death of Pa Fashola, despite the painful loss that it is, should also be used as an opportunity to celebrate his life, not just by his family but by all of us,” it said.
APC described Pa Fashola as a humane, humble and unassuming man, whose sharp sense of humour never escaped anyone
who met him in his life time, saying even being the father of an excellent Governor neither affected his humility nor dulled his
sense of humour.
The party prayed that God will give Gov. Fashola and his family the fortitude to bear their great loss and also grant eternal rest to the soul of the departed.
It urged Gov. Fashola to continue to fly his family flag, the Lagos flag and the Nigerian flag very high, saying this is one of the best tributes he can pay to his father.

Burna boy lashed for controversial green carpet photo

Recently signed-on Glo ambassador Damini Burna Boy Ogulu is presently being whipped black and blue on social media since paparazzi captured him stepping out in public with nothing but his pants on. The 21 year old, Rivers state born rapper appeared at the venue of Glo’s Slide and
Bounce tour brandishing just body tattoos; an act many have described as ‘unsightly and indecent’.
Burna’s supporters have however not gone down without a fight; arguing that the stunt was simply part of Burna’s showmanship… sightly or unsightly.
The war rages on but then there are concerns from observers that such extreme displays from Nigerian entertainers who many youths see as role models in public
may soon get infectious.
Burna Boy has made no comments yet about the controversial photo but you could share your thoughts on this…

ALLEGED DEADLY ATTACK BY FIANCE: ‘My case was closed unjustly by the police'

“I need justice.  My case was unjustly closed by the police!”  That was the persistent cry of Mary Sunday, a graduate of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, on whom a pot of stew and the kerosene stove, upon which it was boiling, were allegedly thrown at by her fiancé, a serving officer of the Nigeria Police, Corporal Isaac Gbanwuan.

The incident, which left Mary with grievous bodily harm including the loss of her two ears with her upper neck glued to her arms, led to two surgeries while she needs N5million to undergo another in India.

The victim told Sunday Vanguard she was on the verge of being recruited into the police  before trouble began when her fiancé was allegedly diagnosed with low sperm count, lamenting that she has been unjustly treated by the police and denied access to justice.

As a result of the medical report, Gbanwuan allegedly became aggressive and suspicious. An argument which arose from his suspicion of a telephone call Mary received on August 24, 2012, became the last straw that broke the camel’s back.

“On our way home from hospital on that fateful day, an argument ensued over a telephone call I received. He didn’t want to believe the call was from my sister. The argument degenerated and Isaac started beating me by the time we got home. When I could no longer take the kicking and dragging, I tried to escape the scene and I ran to the second floor of the building where we resided at Pedro Barracks, Shomolu, Lagos. We had actually done our introduction and were preparing to get married. He pursued me and I ran to a kitchen on the second floor to escape. He however broke the kitchen door. In a fit of rage, he carried the cooking stove of the neighbor, with boiling stew on it, and poured all the content on my body. The stove exploded, setting me on fire”, Mary said.

The Lagos State Deputy Police Public Relations Officer, Mr. Damascus Ozoani, in a newspaper report, dated  February 18, 2013, however cleared  Gbanwuan of the allegation on the grounds that the police had carried out and closed investigation on the matter.

In the report, the police described the condition of Mary as a self-inflicted one.

“The allegation that Gbanwuan assaulted Sunday is misleading. This case has been investigated by the Provost Office of the command. The police have taken statements from Mary, Gbanwuan and other eye witnesses at the Pedro Police Barracks. The Lagos State Police Command is not insensitive. I can tell you that, at this moment, the Commissioner of Police is interested in this case and has passed instructions to the Provost to conclude investigations”, Ozoani was quoted as saying.

However, Mary, who was until June 2013 on admission at the National Orthopaedic Hospital, Igbobi, Lagos, said the police did not at any time visit her to get information from her after a complaint was lodged by one of her relatives.  When contacted, Gbanwuan, who did not deny knowing Mary, refused discussing the subject but rather, referred Sunday Vanguard to the police headquarters for any details.

Foremost human rights activist, Dr.(Mrs.)Abiola Akiyode-Afolabi, Executive Director, Women Advocates Research & Documentation Centre-WARDC, suspects a bias in the matter.

“One would wonder why a woman who was running for her dear life and seeking help and assistance from neighbours would suddenly become suicidal and inflict such wanton harm on herself. Beyond this investigation, Mary has no other option of redress since the police have closed investigation on her case”, Abiola, who decried the insensitivity of the police towards issues of domestic violence, said.

She continued: “We suspect there is an attempt to subdue the case because of the multiple conflicts of interest associated with the matter. We believe that the Lagos State Police Command has been  hasty in coming to the conclusion and that the newspaper report affirms the bias of the police on this matter. We believe that the response was also to cover up the several violations that take place at various police barracks. Also, the fact that this abuse took place at the police barracks, to us, is enough reason for the Lagos police to cover up. We would have expected that the police would have, in accordance with the criminal law in the country, subjected Corporal Isaac to a court of law before an unbiased umpire of this case, so that justice can be seen as done.”

Abiola, who lamented the continued violence against women with perpetrators going unpunished, regretted that several other issues of domestic violence had got stuck at the police without victims getting justice.

“We’ve written twice to the Police Service Commission but got no response. We’ve also written to the Lagos State House of Assembly from whom we’re yet to get an acknowledgement. To us as human rights activists, we’re getting convinced that despite its domestic violence laws, the state is not interested in reducing violence against women. We’re therefore planning to do a petition to the African Commission and the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Violence and Discrimination against Women – CEDAW, on this matter, to state that the Nigerian government has failed in the protection of women’s rights.”

Culled From - Vanguard Newspapers.

ACE NOLLYWOOD PRODUCER; LANCELOT IMASUEN OPENS UP says Nollywood Actresses almost Stopped his Marriage

Celebrated Nollywood director and producer, Lancelot Oduwa Imasuen, is one man you cannot but admire for his professional exploits. He got married to his lovely wife, Osas, some six years ago, at the age of 36 years. The marriage is blessed with three kids. Lancelot says his initial dream was to get married at the age of 27. The couple takes us through their matrimonial journey.

After six years of marriage , the  journey has been exciting and memorable. “I and my wife are getting to know more about each other. Though marriage comes with its challenges, we thank God we have come this far and it’s getting really exciting. It’s not an easy thing for a woman to marry somebody in our business  because of the nature of the job. This is my 18th year in Nollywood and 32 years as an artiste. So, my wife understands the nature of the job I’m doing to earn a living.’

Late wedding!

I married at the age of 36.  But if you ask me what my regret in life is, I would tell you I have one or two. I wanted to pursue my academic program up to the PhD level. But that never happened.

Again, I thought I would marry at the age of 27. At 26, I was already contemplating settling down. But because of the extended family system that is peculiar with Africans, I couldn’t actualise that dream.  I have always envisaged a small but united immediate family for myself.

So, I wanted to see how much I could be of assistance to my extended family members before setting out to build my own nuclear family. For me, late marriage comes with its own price. I was into a relationship for seven years that did not work out. The ex-lover  walked out of the relationship without any cause. It was so devastating for me.

I never believed I could remain  a bachelor  beyond  the age  of 29 or 30. But it wasn’t so. The important thing is not how far, rather it is how well .For six years now, I have been married with three kids. My wife is a treasure to me .Over the years, I have watched her perfect the art of understanding the kind of man she got married to.

Each time she sees me, she’s very happy and I try as much as possible to play my role as a husband to her.

Finding a wife in Nollywood!

There was no way I could have married an actress because I’m somebody that is greatly misunderstood. I cherish my wife so much because if she had listened to what my female colleagues told her about me, perhaps, I wouldn’t have been married by now.

However, it was after our wedding  that I got to know  how much some  actresses tried  to discourage my wife from marrying me. I was shocked when one of them came to my house after our white wedding to apologise to me.I didn’t know she was my wife’s friend. She visited us in the house; while my wife was in the kitchen, she approached me to confess some of the negative things she told her about me that were not true.

The opposite sex would admire more from a distance, but they thought I was too strict to be called somebody’s husband. I suffered that fate because of the  movie industry. So , any woman that creates time to be with me could not understand that I’m a man that has taken time to create a dichotomy between my private life and my job. It was only very few of them  who understood my position.

As a matter of fact, my disposition to the job was to get to where I am  today; to make a name for myself and the industry. My insistence on professionalism robbed me of the opportunity to  be romantically linked to  my  female colleagues in the industry. In fact, any woman I approached then   would tactically avoid having anything to do with me.

But today, time is proving all that wrong. I have been able to create that demarcation. When we are on location, all those  professional ethics must be observed; I don’t allow sentiment to come between my job and love life, because if I’m emotionally attached to you ,I wouldn’t want to get you on the same production that I’m involved in .That’s me, and a lot of actresses did not understand my position.

In fact, when I was getting married, they told my wife I was married with kids  because, at the time I met my wife, I had travelled to over 20 countries. And during that period, people thought I had a family of my own. But they didn’t understand the important of the saying that  you must lay your bed the way you want to lie on it. That has been my guiding principle.

Tempted to quit

I was of marriageable age before I got married. I didn’t dabble into marriage. I was ready mentally, psychologically and emotionally. That’s not to say we have not had our issues. But I’m never  too proud to say, ‘honey I’m sorry,’ whenever I gaffe. And, on her own,

she never feels too proud to say, ‘daddy, I’m sorry,’ whenever I’m able to prove that she has offended me. That has worked for us. My wife is loving, peaceful and extremely loyal to me. She loves what I do for a living and she’s my number one fan and critic. I’m always inquisitive to hear  her comment on my new productions.

Most times, I believe that marriages to celebrities are always for the wrong reasons. I did a thorough research to come up with a title of a film, “In Between the Lines”, which is a promotional film I did for the Federal Inland Revenue Service. The film is a love story on how and why most celebrity marriages don’t last. There is always a misunderstanding, especially when men who are not Nollywood practitioners, marry female celebrities. They watch a love scene, or see their wives kiss in a film, they tend to misinterpret her role in that film and real life situation. For us in the industry, it’s always the problem of never being around home. We are jumping from one movie location to another. It takes the grace of God and discipline for your spouse to understand your predicament.

Our relationship had so many detractors — wife

Attraction

Lancelot is somebody that is very different from  the way he looks. When I first met him, I had my impression about him. More so, a couple of other people had told me a lot of negative things about him. But despite that, I took my time to understudy him. Basically, he’s a nice person, very down to earth .He does not like anything to bother him and he’s a sincere person at heart.

How I met him

I met him at a bus station in Benin-City. I was on my way to Lagos, just like he was. I sat beside him, somehow, we got talking and, along the line, we exchanged phone numbers. The rest is history.

Familiar with his name!

Yes, I think I was particularly interested in him and his works. This is because of where he comes from (Benin). In fact, before I met my husband, I wasn’t a big fan of Nigerian movies. But whenever I saw any movie directed by him, I wanted to watch that movie because I knew it would be a good movie.

Moreover, my sister, who  used to be a very big fan of Nollywood movies encouraged me to watch movies directed by Lancelot. That’s how I really got to know him and his works on screen.

My reaction at the bus station

Actually, I sighted him from a distance. I had seen him a couple of times on television. I just said in my mind, ‘oh! This is Lancelot’. Then, I walked pass him and acted as if nothing happened. Fortunately, I was privileged to sit beside him in the bus. I didn’t allow the joy of sitting beside a superstar overwhelm me.

Proposal

Initially, I rejected his proposal. But much later, I accepted him. What happened was that, at first, I really didn’t know much about his person. Again, because he was already a superstar, I had to seek advice from friends and well- wishers, who tried to discourage me from marrying him.

Somehow, I was confused but, on second thought, I said to myself, ‘let me get to know more about this man that everybody is trying to castigate’. And when I did, I discovered that he wasn’t that kind of person many people thought he was. When I found out he was much more different and a nice person, I accepted his marriage proposal.

But even during our introduction, some detractors told me he was married with kids, but I was not bothered.

What it takes to be his wife

It takes someone who is peaceful, kind and who will always be there for him.

What I don’t like about him

I used to complain that he’s always busy and that he throws his clothes around in the house.

Missing him

In the early stage of our marriage, his not always around bothered me a lot, but, with time, the understanding is getting better. Sometimes, it can be lonely, but with the kids around, coupled with working on my project, which is fashion designing, I’m busy and less bothered. I don’t feel it any more.

ChanceIt’s been awesome.

I give God the glory. If I have the chance to do it all over again, I will do it with him. Yes, there are challenges but I think it’s just a learning process. When you have issues in marriage and you have someone who tells you the truth about what goes on, you are bound to retrace your steps. I thank God we have come this far, and I know that we are going to be together forever.

UK based African Movie Channel berths in Nigeria

UK based African Movie Channel (AMC), the world’s first global channel dedicated to the best movies and series from Nigeria’s
Nollywood, and the best from the rest of Africa, has berthed in Nigeria.
AMC, HVP gathered, will be officially launched in Nigeria on Sunday, August 11, at the Grand Ballroom of the Oriental
Hotel, Lekki.
Expected to grace the classy event  which will be hosted by the man of the moment, Teju Babyface, with Andre Blaze as red carpet Anchor persons, are who’s who in media and business, along with top
Nollywood stars.

Lagbaja, P-Square, Omawunmi, others rock PH

Politically nervy Garden City of Port-
Harcourt, Rivers State, got a reprieve last Saturday when leading telecommunication company, Globacom, made a stop in the city with its refreshingly entertaining Glo Slide and Bounce concert.

The line-up of artistes comprising the dancing duo, Psquare; the mask man, Lagbaja; the home boy Burma Boy; African rapper number one, MI; the lady with velvety voice, Waje, Omawunmi, Lynxxx, Bez and Chee, the Voice were just more than the city could handle as they thrilled and mesmerised the residents.
Held at the beautiful Aztech Arcum event centre, Stadium Road, Port Harcourt, many believed the event could not have come at a more auspicious time. One noticeable
factor that distinguished the Port Harcourt edition of the Glo Slide & Bounce Concert from other shows that had held in the city was the flawless fusion of music, dance and
comedy with a very participatory audience.
It was a compact event and the organisers did not spare any effort at ensuring the audience had value for their time.
In the next three weeks, Calabar, Uyo, Lagos and Abuja are on the queue to experience the unlimited fun and entertainment of the Glo Slide & Bounce Concert.

Governor Dickson Expresses Shock Over Death Of Dame Jonathan’s Mother

Bayelsa State Governor, Hon. Henry
Seriake Dickson has on behalf of the government and people of the State, expressed deep shock and regret over the sudden death of Madam Iwari Oba, mother of the First Lady of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Dame (Dr.) Patience Jonathan in a ghastly motor accident along the Elele axis of the East/West road in Rivers State.
In a condolence message to the first family, the Bayelsa State Chief Executive, described the death of Madam Oba as a great blow and an irreparable loss to her immediate family and the Nation as a whole, stressing that her motherly and wise counsel will be greatly missed by all, who knew her.
Governor Dickson noted that, her demise is coming at such a time when the First Lady and her family needed her support and encouragement most.
He urged the First lady, the family and the Oba family of Okrika in Rivers State to accept the unfortunate incident as the Will of GOD and take it with philosophical
calmness.
The Bayelsa State Governor, on behalf of the Government and people of Bayelsa State prayed God to strengthen and grant Dame (Dr.) Patience Jonathan and the
entire family, the fortitude and courage to bear the loss.

Daniel Iworiso-Markson
Chief Press Secretary to the Governor of Bayelsa State

Rochas Okorocha sacks Nkiru Sylvanus

Reports reaching PSD has it that Nollywood actress Nkiru Sylvanus
has been sacked from the cabinet of Governor Rochas Okorocha of Imo State.
The actress was relieved of her
position as Special Assistant following a cabinet dissolution by the Imo State government which affected all commissioners, special advisers, senior special assistants and special assistants in the cabinet.
A statement from the government of the state explains that the ‘the
dissolution was necessary to give
room for more capable hands into
the system in order to fully actualize the rescue mission agenda of the State Government.’
A lot of eyebrows were raised when
Okorocha appointed the Abia State-
born ‘Final Tussle’ star as Special
Assistant on Lagos Matters in July
2011.