A former Nigerian federal lawmaker, Dino Melaye, Monday night escaped assassination in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital city.
Mr. Melaye, a staunch government critic, was attacked in the high-brow Central Business District of the city, while making his way home.
He said the attackers, driving in a Golf car, crossed his car near the NNPC towers and immediately began shooting at him.
He said two bullets hit his car before he managed to escape unharmed. “I am safe,” he told PREMIUM TIMES.
Mr. Melaye, a former member of the Peoples Democratic Party, shortly after leaving the National Assembly, switched to the opposition flank, actively leading the January 2012 fuel subsidy protest.
He has since then remained an anti-corruption activist.
“When you fight corruption, corruption fights back strongly,” he said, blaming the attack on his anti-corruption stance.
Uloma definitely knew Solomon was married to her. She said her first encounter with Uloma was back in 2010 when she called Solomon very late at night and she, Lilian, picked up the phone. She told Uloma that she’s Solomon’s wife and Uloma started crying. She said she even had to start consoling Uloma that night. After that phone conversation she didn’t hear from Uloma again but later found out she continued her affair with her husband. She said she called Uloma and warned her over the phone…
She and Solomon were not having any marital problems. She said Solomon told her he was going to Lagos to work a few days before the Saturday wedding. She said she was the one who helped him pack his bags and he even kissed her goodbye at the door. She said she communicated with him a day before the wedding, Friday April 12th and he was all lovey dovey with her. She munched the messages and sent to me…will show you guys some…
Lilian also made something very clear. She said if she and Solomon had been having issues, she wouldn’t have had the guts to do what she did at the venue. Solomon wouldn’t have even had to do the whole thing secretly. Not one member of Solomon’s family was at that wedding on Saturday. According to her, Solomon presented fake family members.
An Indian man has bought one of the world's most expensive shirts, made with more than 3kg of gold and worth $250,000. His is an extreme case of an Indian obsession with the precious metal.
Datta Phuge's nickname is "the gold man", and it's easy to see why.
His knuckles, neck, and wrists are weighed down by the precious metal - signet rings, chunky bracelets, and a medallion that even an Olympic champion might envy.
And on top of that, draped resplendently around him, glittering in the light, is a shirt of gold.
Weighing a staggering 3.3kg (about 7lb), it cost him a cool quarter of a million dollars (£162,000).
It's an extravagant fashion statement, to say the least, but for Phuge it's an important one.
"Some people ask me why I'm wearing so much gold but it was my dream. People have different aspirations. Some elite people want to own an Audi or Mercedes, and have big cars. I chose gold," he explains.
Given its impractical nature, the shirt only gets an outing on special occasions, like parties and important functions.
It elicits a mixture of reactions, Phuge says. Some people are impressed. Others are sniffy about what they regard as the excessive bling.
Either way, to ensure the shirt stays on his back, Phuge has a security guard with him wherever he travels.
"The challenge was to make this as comfortable as wearing a normal shirt," says Tejpal Rankar, of Rankar Jewellers, a 133-year-old business in Pune, a few hours' drive from Mumbai.
"Once we decided to make the shirt we researched designs and patterns. We didn't want it to be like wearing a sheet of gold."
To that end Rankar and his team of craftsmen decided to make a gold cloth based on an Italian weave, using a special machine.
They drew inspiration from old images of Indian kings wearing suits of armour. To prevent it scratching, they stitched a velvet lining inside.
The finished shirt is - as this writer can testify - heavy to wear and a little clunky. It can't be washed so care needs to be taken not to let it get dirty, or indeed too sweaty. The latter is unavoidable in an Indian summer.
Phuge says wearing it makes him feel good. For him it is the ultimate manifestation of achievement and gives him a status he has craved since he was young.
"When I was at college, people would say you were from a rich family if you had gold. So from the age of 20, I started wearing gold. Back then in smaller quantities, like 10 or 15g."
Actually, he wasn't from a rich family, he was from a humble background.
He made his big break as a property speculator, then became a money lender in the town of Pimpri Chinchwad, outside Pune.
Every six to eight months, when his company turns in a profit, he buys something else made of gold. Next on his list is a mobile phone made entirely from gold, and perhaps a pair of gold shoes.
Some press reports have suggested Phuge only bought the shirt to woo women but he is happily married to Seema, a government worker, who also has a penchant for the precious metal.
"She owns 500kg of gold, I've bought her necklaces and bags made from it," he says proudly.
But Phuge is also keenly aware of gold's value as an investment.
"If the need arises, I can sell the shirt and have the money," he says.
In this he is like many other Indians, the world's largest consumers of gold.
"Everyone in India buys gold," says Rajiv Mehta, a gold analyst from financial research firm India Info Line.
"Gold has become a status symbol or a symbol of wealth… especially in the last 10 years we've seen a lot of people kind of showcasing their gold ornaments or trying to become more flamboyant."
As the symbol of the Hindu goddess, Lakshmi, gold is seen as very auspicious. It is used to decorate Hindu deities in temples, and traditionally given as a gift at weddings.
According to Mehta, of the 18,000 tonnes of gold which is held in India, about two-thirds is in rural areas. Among the millions of people without bank accounts, gold is seen as an alternative way of saving.
Rankar says he is seeing more and more requests for gold handbags and belts and there's been a rise in the number of Indians buying gold bars, which can now even be acquired from some ATMs.
Gold-leafing, where 24-carat gold is applied to an object, is also becoming more popular, says Shezhad Khan, of the Gold Leafing Studio, Mumbai.
The company has recently been asked to gold leaf a toilet for a client, and also added a golden touch to the staircase at the world's most expensive home, Antilia, the Mumbai high-rise owned by the country's richest man, Mukesh Ambani.
For Datta Phuge, whose shirt which could have paid for a luxury house abroad, or a number of extra cars, it was money well spent.
"I wanted the world to know me as 'the gold man' with this shirt," he says. "And now, they do."
The girls were declared missing by the college authorities.
Three female undergraduates of Tai Solarin College of Education, Omu-Ijebu, Ogun State, who were declared missing have been sighted in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates(UAE), PREMIUM TIMES has learnt.
The students, Omoeneme Maureen, Ajao Aminat Romoke and Oludegun Morufat Olayinka, have been missing from the school for several weeks, and had become a source of worry for the college management and their parents.
The school authorities and the families of the three100 level French students, had searched various parts of the state including various accidents scenes and mortuaries during the search for the students.
There had also been rumours that ritualists might have kidnapped and used the ladies for ulterior actions.
One of the girls eventually made contact and told a search party that they were in Dubai to seek greener pastures.
When contacted, the Registrar of the College, Tunji Kanimodo, confirmed the story, adding that the students’ action was amazing.
Mr. Kanimodo told PREMIUM TIMES that the police had been informed that the girls were in the United Arab Emirates.
He said the students had paid their fees and registered for the ongoing academic session before they went missing; and the school authorities would wait for appropriate action by the police before it takes further actions.
Pandemonium was reported on Saturday, April 13, 2013 in Lagos when the eight months old pregnant wife of Nollywood actor, Solomon Akiyesi, Lilian Akiyesi, stormed the secret wedding of his husband to another woman. The ugly incident happened at the Overcomers World Outreach located at Overcomers Close, off Ramlat Timson street, Aguda, Surulere. As gathered, Solomon allegedly dumped his pregnant wife in their base in Port Harcourt, Rivers State on the pretence of coming to Lagos for a movie shoot.
Unfortunately for him, his wife got wind of his plan to marry an alleged pregnant lover in Lagos.
His wife stormed Lagos ahead of the wedding and zoomed to the wedding venue with some policemen and some of her relatives. Before the pastor could join the new lovers together as husband and wife, Lilian reportedly disrupted the announcement which abruptly ended the marriage ceremony.
Solomon and Lilian have been reportedly married for seven years without a child until she recently got pregnant for the actor.
A young girl in India has such an extreme case of hydrocephalus that her head has swelled to an alarming size.
Runa Begum has had the condition -- in which cerebrospinal fluid collects in the skull -- since she was born, her mother, Fatima, told Reuters. Doctors in the Tripura region, where the family lives, have been unable to provide relief. Runa's father, Abdul Rehman, doesn't earn enough as a brick factory worker to pay for more medical help.
Dr. Peter Heydemann, a pediatric neurologist at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, told The Huffington Post that the girl could perhaps be treated with a shunt inserted to drain the fluid, but he expressed doubt whether any brain damage could be reversed. "Her brain has been under a fair bit of pressure," he said. "I wouldn't be surprised if the child was blind."
Heydemann suggested Runa (or Roona, as identified by some news outlets) might have hydranencephaly, in which the brain hemispheres are absent and the empty space is filled by cerebrospinal fluid.
Heydemann said he had never seen such an extreme case, but he added that the prominent veins on her scalp are a "common piece of this puzzle."
Gill Yaz, a health official for Shine, a British charity for hydrocephalus victims, told the Daily Mail that the shunt procedure takes just 30 minutes and that the shunts themselves cost between $300 and $1,200. But Rehman (or Rahman as he is referred to in the Mail) makes just $2.75 a day.
The post-mortem examination of the body of the late Cynthia Osokogu revealed that she died from asphyxia – absence of Oxygen supply to the body, a pathologist told the court on Friday.
Ms. Osokogu, 24, was allegedly drugged and murdered in a hotel room last July in Lagos.
Okwumo Nwabufor and Olisaeloka Ezike are charged, for Ms. Osokogu’s death, with conspiracy to commit murder, murder, and felony.
Osita Orji, a Pharmacist who sold the Rophynol drug to the alleged murderers, is accused of reckless and negligent act; while Nonso Ezike, who pawned the deceased’s Blackberry phone, is charged with possession of stolen property.
While testifying on Friday, John Obafunwa, a Professor of Forensic Medicine, said that the blockage of the deceased’s upper respiratory airways was the immediate cause of her death. He dispelled any probability of a self-inflicted harm or outright suicide.
His account of the state of the corpse at autopsy was as revealing as it was chilling – hair nets and handkerchiefs stuffed into the deceased’s mouth as well as a semblance of bite marks on both thighs- leaving a few people in the court room teary-eyed.
“Her two hands were tied behind her back and wrapped with a brown tape, in addition to applying a chain around the hands. The two legs were also taped together,” Mr. Obafunwa said, narrating the outcome of his post-mortem examination at the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital.
“The head area was stuffed in the mouth with what looked like a hair net – black/golden coloured- and a white handkerchief. All these were stacked inside her mouth and secured in place by same brown tape wrapped around the mouth,” he added.
Mr. Obafunwa said that after the objects were removed from the deceased’s mouth during autopsy; small indentations were observed around the lips, tongues, and inside of the mouth “due to the pressure of the materials inside the mouth.”
“The materials blocked the airways, she wouldn’t have been able to breathe,” said the pathologist.
“The lungs were heavy. The left and right lungs weighed 400 grammes and 500 grammes respectively. The normal weight should be about 250 – 300 grammes. They were heavy because of blood accumulation in the lungs, what we describe as Pulmonary Oedema.
“A combination of pin point haemorrhages, fluidity of blood and pulmonary oedema add up to the asphyxia. That was the immediate cause of death due to blockage of the upper respiratory airway. And this blockage was as a result of the gagging and choking,” Mr. Obafunwa said.
“The other findings of note are the multiple bruises and abrasions on the arms, the forearms, back, and what appeared to be bite marks on the front of the two thighs,” he added.
Other testimonies:
Two other prosecution witnesses also testified on Friday- Victor Okwukwe, Manager of Cosmillia Hotel where Ms. Osokogu’s body was found and Lucky Ehimeme, a photographer who took pictures of the lifeless body in the hotel room.
Mr. Okwukwe testified that after Ifeyinwa Francis, the receptionist, reported to him that she had received a phone call from someone informing her he would not be returning to Room C1, he asked her to go to the room.
“I asked her to call the room (C1). She called the room for about four times and nobody picked the phone. I then asked her to go up and knock at her door, if nobody opens the door, she should open the door and if the lady is sleeping, she should wake her up,” said Mr. Okwukwe, 43.
“She (the receptionist) came down to my office and told me that she opened the door and saw a body lying on the bed, naked. So I went up with her. When we got there, I saw a lady, fair in complexion, lying down on the bed, face up, naked, her hands tied at her back, her legs also tied up.”
Mr. Okwukwe said that he informed the owner of the hotel who directed him to alert the police.
But the arrival of the police, accompanied by a photographer and their resultant handling of events almost marred the prosecution’s case on Friday.
First, Mr. Ehimeme testified that either the police or the hotel staff turned the corpse to different positions so he could take various shots.
“When we got there (the hotel), they opened the room on the first floor and they (police) said I should snap anything I see,” said Mr. Ehimeme, 34.
Then, after printing out the photographs at the laboratory, Mr. Ehimeme said that the police ordered him to delete the pictures from his camera’s memory card as well as from the laboratory.
After Ade Ipaye, the lead prosecution counsel, tendered the photographs of the deceased’s lifeless body as evidence before the court, the defence counsels pounced on it, describing the deletion of the images on the memory card as “a destruction of the original evidence.”
“This evidence is a copy of the document. Failure to tender the memory card which is the foundation is a failure to produce the original evidence,” said Victor Opara, counsel to Mr. Nwabufor. “And since no foundation has been given before the tendering of the secondary evidence, I urge Your Lordship to reject the evidence. It’s either they tender the physical camera itself or the memory card.” Mr. Opara added.
After hearing arguments and counter arguments from defence and prosecution counsels, Olabisi Akinlade, the trial judge, ruled that neither the camera nor the memory card is primary evidence and admitted the photographs as exhibit before the court.
The judge adjourned till May 24 and 31 for continuation of trial. #premiumtimesng
WOMEN who wear bras have SAGGIER boobs than women who don’t, according to a new study.
Scientists in France found that bras give no benefit at all in “denying breasts gravity” and claim the underwear is just a “false necessity”.
The research suggests wearing a bra could actually be sending our busts southwards, and does little to ease back pain.
Professor Jean-Denis Rouillon, from the University of Besancon, led the 15-year study into women’s breasts.
He said: “Medically, physiologically, anatomically – breasts gain no benefit from being denied gravity.
“On the contrary, they get saggier with a bra”.
Undies model ... Danielle Lineker
Professor Rouillon spent years using a slide rule and caliper to measure changes in the orientation of the breasts of 130 women.
He carried out his research at the University Hospital in Besancon.
Capucine, a 28-year-old participant in the study, swears by the results - and has not worn a bra for two years.
She said: “There are multiple benefits: I breathe more easily, I carry myself better, and I have less back pain.”
#thesun.co.uk
Is this true, ladies? Let us know your personal opinion on this based on your experience...drop your comments below!
In Pennsylvania, U.S., Dr. Kermit Gosnell faces the death penalty over allegations that he performed illegal late-term abortions by delivering babies, then snipping their spinal cords with scissors.
Afterward, he would reportedly cut off the babies’ feet and preserve them in jars.
Prosecutors also hold him responsible for the death of 41-year-old Bhutan refugee Karnamaya Mongar, who died from an overdose of anesthesia under his care.
Prosecutors also revealed that the clinic employed an unqualified staff — middle-school dropouts working alongside unlicensed medical school graduates.
The anesthesiologist was a sixth-grade dropout who couldn’t fully read or write, according to prosecutors. The woman who performed ultrasounds had an 8th grade education and phlebotomy certification for drawing blood. Another employee who worked in the operating room was a 15-year-old girl still attending high school.
Former employee Stephen Massof, an unlicensed medical school graduate, described snipping babies’ spinal cords as “literally a beheading.” He told the court that “it would rain fetuses.”
The more women paid, the more anesthesia they received.
Gosnell allegedly gave preferential treatment to white patients, whom he would meet with one-on-one before their procedures.
Former employee Elizabeth Hampton told the court that white women “would get better and more attention.”
Gosnell’s clinic operated for nearly 20 years without being inspected by the Pennsylvania Department of Health.
It earned the nickname “House of Horrors” largely because of a 2011 grand jury report that described the office as a “baby charnel house.”
From the District Attorney’s office: “The clinic reeked of animal urine, courtesy of the cats that were allowed to roam (and defecate) freely. Furniture and blankets were stained with blood. Instruments were not properly sterilized. Disposable medical supplies were not disposed of; they were reused, over and over again. Medical equipment – such as the defibrillator, the EKG, the pulse oximeter, the blood pressure cuff – was generally broken; even when it worked, it wasn’t used. The emergency exit was padlocked shut. And scattered throughout, in cabinets, in the basement, in a freezer, in jars and bagsand plastic jugs, were fetal remains.”
The leader of the radical Islamist group Boko Haram has rejected the idea of any potential amnesty deal, which the country’s presidency said it would study in a bid to curb a bloody insurgency, in a statement obtained by AFP Thursday.
Abubakar Shekau, the purported head of Boko Haram who has been designated a global terrorist by the United States, claimed his group had “not committed any wrong to deserve amnesty.”
“Surprisingly, the Nigerian government is talking about granting us amnesty. What wrong have we done? On the contrary, it is we that should grant you pardon,” he said, listing what he described as the state’s “atrocities” against Muslims.
The Hausa language audio recording was distributed by email in a manner consistent with previous Boko Haram messages, and the voice was similar to that of previous Shekau statements.
President Goodluck Jonathan last week formed a panel to look at the possibility of offering an amnesty deal to the Islamists, whose insurgency has left more than 3,000 people dead since 2009, including killings by the security services.
Jonathan has come under intense pressure over the issue, with politicians from the country’s violence-torn north as well as Nigeria’s highest Muslim spiritual figure, the Sultan of Sokoto, calling for amnesty.
The panel, reportedly to be composed of national security officials, northern leaders and others, is due to report later this month.
The move has been widely debated in Nigerian media in recent days.
Boko Haram has claimed to be fighting for an Islamic state in Africa’s most populous nation and largest oil producer.
The group also claimed the February 19 kidnapping of a French family of seven over the border in Cameroon. Their whereabouts remain unknown.
Boko Haram’s demands however have repeatedly shifted and the group is believed to include various factions in addition to imitators.
Nigeria offered an amnesty to militants in the southern oil-producing Niger Delta region in 2009, which has been credited with greatly reducing unrest there, though oil theft has since flourished.
Violence blamed on Boko Haram has been concentrated in the mostly Muslim north.
Christian and Muslim civilians, the security services and other symbols of authority have been among the group’s victims.
The gay couple who tied the knot in a traditional Zulu and Tswana wedding while dressed in traditional attire say they will not be fazed by the criticism being aimed at them by social network users and Zulu culture experts.
Thoba Sithole, a Zulu from KwaDukuza, and Tshepo Modisane, a Tswana from Johannesburg, tied the knot on Saturday in KwaDukuza with about 200 people, including family, friends, onlookers and the media in attendance.
Sithole and Modisane, both 27, defended their wedding and said there was nothing evil or untraditional about it.
The Gay Couple Took a Kiss Professor Velaphi Mkhize, a Zulu traditional culture analyst and writer, said Zulu culture did not recognise homosexuality, therefore, traditionally, Modisane and Sithole’s marriage was void.
“In the olden days there were homosexuals, but when a gay child was born the family used to slaughter an animal to plead with the ancestors to intervene and take the evil spirit away from the child.”
“However, now the constitution recognises homosexuality and gay marriages and the biggest challenge we are facing is how do we continue to call something a taboo if it is recognised by the constitution.”
He said the marriage was an insult to Zulu forefathers because marriage was traditionally a way to expand the family. Wives were expected to give birth to children who would carry their families’ names forward. Homosexuality made this impossible, said Mkhize.
However, Sithole, an IT specialist based in Johannesburg, said:
“If being gay is evil, why did God create gay people? Gays are born gay and according to a Bible scripture we were all created by God, so I don’t see anything evil about being born gay because it means that God wanted you to be gay.”
Modisane said they did not need to justify their wedding to the public because it was only between them, and to make them happy.
“We decided to have a traditional wedding because we firstly wanted to show people that being homosexual can be part of an African culture.
“Secondly, we wanted to celebrate the love we have for each other and show people that we don’t feel ashamed for the choices we have made in our lives,” said Modisane, who works as a chartered accountant in Johannesburg.
The couple said the support they had received from their families made it easier for them to tie the knot.
“My family has always been there for me and had always been there for me even in my previous homosexual relationships,” said Modisane.
Sithole said his mother had always told him how she was looking forward to seeing him getting married to his partner.
They started dating in 2011 after they had been friends for some time.
Modisane said he was attracted to Sithole because he was a well-grounded man who loved God and was someone who could bring stability in his life.
Sithole said their next step after the wedding was buying a home and starting their own family. “We are fully committed to each other and we believe children form an important foundation in bringing stability in one’s life,” he said. “We will be adopting two kids – a boy and a girl – to be part of our family.”
The Nigerian writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s new book, Americanah, is a story of romance, race and the politics of hair
Americanah, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s new book, is the story of Ifemelu, a young Nigerian who travels to America to study and stays there for 13 years before deciding to return to Lagos. The book is an atmospheric and vibrant love story – the love between Ifemelu and Obinze, the high-school sweetheart she leaves behind, the love between Ifemelu and her American boyfriend, the love she has for her young cousin Dike, whom she looks after in America, and the love of her homeland, Nigeria. It is also a novel about race and immigration and what it feels like to be black in America.
But the book’s biggest love affair seems to be Adichie’s enduring relationship with hair. Hairstyle is such a constant presence in the book that not a page goes past without a mention of it: straight weaves, box braids, cornrows, dreadlocks, afros, twists, raucous curls, kinky coils and TWAs (teeny weeny afros). Not to mention texturisers, relaxers, oils, pomades and hair butter. No character in her book gets away without having their hairstyle mentioned, and many are defined by it. And not just the girls. ‘The greying hair on the back of his head was swept forward, a comical arrangement to disguise his bald spot.’ ‘A dreadlocked white man sat next to her on the train, his hair like old twine ropes that ended in a blond fuzz.'
As Chimamanda Adichie, 36, sits before Telegraph in a hotel in London: contained, amused, sexy and intellectual, her own hair is succinctly tethered, but it looks as if, were she to free it, it would be ready to spring into action at any time.
‘I am obsessed with hair!’ she exclaims, before settling happily into a long session on the subject. ‘As you can see I have natural, negro hair, free from relaxers and things. My hair story started when I was a baby. My mother had boys and she desperately wanted a girl, a girl with hair. I came out with a lot of hair and she was thrilled. As I was growing up she would do things to my hair but what I loved the most was when she stretched it with a hot comb. I was terrified too, because when the comb touched your ear it was so painful, but I loved the idea that my hair would then be straight. So when I was three years old I already had the idea that straight hair was beautiful and my hair was ugly.’
In secondary school her hair had to be natural or in braids. Even now, Adichie says, her two nieces who go to school near Lagos have to have their hair cut short, like boys. (‘They are continually texting me, to ask me to buy them a wig. I believe strongly that we should be proud of our hair, but if my 15-year-old nieces want a straight wig, I’ll buy them a straight wig! Life is short.’)
London (CNN) - Former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, a towering figure in postwar British and world politics and the only woman to become British prime minister, has died at the age of 87, her spokeswoman said Monday.
Her funeral will be at St. Paul's Cathedral, the British prime minister's office announced Monday.
Thatcher served from 1975 to 1990 as leader of the Conservative Party. She was called the "Iron Lady" for her personal and political toughness.
Thatcher retired from public life after a stroke in 2002 and suffered several strokes after that. British media reported Monday that a stroke caused her death.
She made few public appearances in her final months, missing a reception marking her 85th birthday hosted by Prime Minister David Cameron in October 2010. She also skipped the July 2011 unveiling of a statue honouring her old friend Ronald Reagan in London.
In December 2012, she was hospitalized after a procedure to remove a growth in her bladder. #cnn
Talented Nollywood actress Nse Ikpe Etim and Clifford Sule’s traditional wedding was held on Thursday April 4th at St. Stephen Primary School, Ikot Etobon, Akwa Ibom State-Nigeria.
The beautiful bride was dressed in her traditional wedding attire...in a carbon colour traditional attire and adorning an hairdo known with the Ibibios as she danced happily to the tunes of singer Afro pop singer Waje. Her hubby who was wearing a traditional attire too.
It would be recalled that Nse Ikpe-Etim earlier got married secretly to her long time childhood friend, Clifford Sule, a UK-based lecturer on valentine's day February 14 at Ikoyi registry in Lagos.
This is a list of things that will make you look bigger. I’ve tried to concentrate of things that we unintentionally wear not realizing the effect they will have. 1. Elastisized Waistbands The problem with elastisized waistbands, at least for everyone but those with boyish figures, is not only the way the material puffs out instantly creating more volume where most of us just don’t need it but also the instability of the garment. If you have any sort of curves the waistband will move either up or down as you go about your day. The band is going to find the slimmest place to sit and again, unless you have the boyish figure it’s going to be a lot higher than you want. Basically it just doesn’t fit properly. A tighter band that does sit where you want it doesn’t work well either. Unless you’re toned all the way around the midsection you’re going to get the ‘squished bread’ look, which is very unflattering. Keep the elastisized waistbands on your gym clothes. 2. Pleats Pleats that fall from the waistband of your pants and skirts create volume. Their mission in life is to create a better fit, to follow the curves of the body more comfortably and stylishly. They highlight. Since they sit on your hips and tummy they will highlight your hips and tummy. It’s like wearing glad wrap, so unless your hips and tummy are so fabulous they deserve to be highlighted give pleats a miss.
TIP: A paneled and pleated skirt, like the one pictured, or one with inverted pleats that start below the stomach are great options for those wanting to conceal their stomach. 3. Horizontal Stripes Horizontal stripes trick the eye into thinking ‘wider’. The smaller and closer together the stripes the more pronounced the effect. A wider stripe still has the same effect, though not so pronounced. This is actually a shame because horizontal stripes are a classic – think Audrey Hepburn. Certainly wear them, BUT, keep them in proportion. If you’re a small person go for a small stripe. If you’re a large person go for a larger stripe. If you’re big busted or plus size, skip it altogether.
TIP: Horizontal stripes are an excellent way for pear-shaped people to add volume to their upper body and offset wider hips. 4. Metallic and Shiny Clothes Shiny or reflective clothes … um, well, they reflect. The effect is to make whatever they’re covering look bigger. So when you reach for those satin pants or that gold jacket be aware of what the overall effect is going to be. Actually this is a great way to get proportion back into your shape. If you’re bigger on top opt for the satin skirt matched with more subdued top or a shiny camisole matched with black pants if you’re bigger on the bottom. 5. A Small Handbag If you’re a big person and you go with a small handbag it’s not the handbag that’s going to stand out. Comparisons will be made and since your body is approximately 30 times larger than the handbag the size of your body will be emphasized, even if you’re not particularly big in the first place. Your bag should mirror your size. If you’re smaller and wear a bigger bag – same comparison, different conclusion – you will seem small.
TIP:For best effect your handbag should be the opposite of your shape. If you’re a curvy person go with a more structured handbag like the one pictures. If you’re angular go with an unstructured tote. 6. Zips, pockets, ruffles, feathers, fur Anything extra added onto clothes is going to draw the eye and make the piece of body it’s covering look bigger. So if you have big boobs then no ruffles or flounces or anything extra other than what you already have. The same if you got lots of booty – keep things calm and minimal there. Added extras are best kept as the province of the slender or used to remedy proportion issues, and then only very sparingly. Anyone who is plus sized should avoid like the plague. Color and texture are better options. Baggy Clothes I just wanted to finish with a word about baggy clothes. You can instantly make yourself look slimmer by wearing fitting clothes. If you’re big and you wear baggy clothes rather than conceal it simply highlights how big you are. If you’re small it will highlight how small you are. Wearing fitted clothes will make you look slimmer but you will also feel more confident. Trust me, it works.
The Enugu State police command says it has commenced a fullscale investigation into the death of one Ugwu Peter Chima, who died as a result of acid bath he received in his lover’s house.
In a statement made available to DailyPost on Sunday, the police spokesman in the state, Mr. Ebere Amaraizu disclosed that the deceased had gone to see his lover at Old Army Barracks Nsukka in Enugu state when the incident happened.
“He was attacked with accid by a group of six armed men yet to be identified thereby leaving him with serious injuries on his body.
“He was, however, rushed to the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital, Ituku Ozalla Enugu for medical attention, where he was subsequently confirmed dead”, Amaraizu stated.
An upcoming documentary promises to show an alleged, tiny "alien" being that was found a few years ago in Chile's Atacama Desert. And when we say tiny, we're talking six inches from head to ET toe.
Don't be fooled by the apparent size of the creature in the picture above, as the following image shows its true 6-inch stature.
The film, called "Sirius," will also depict how readily available forms of alternative energy technology are what extraterrestrials may be using to travel here from the cosmically improbable distances between their home world and ours.
If this is all true, and that's a very big IF, it will certainly answer the ages-old question of whether or not humans are alone in the universe.
The force behind "Sirius" is Steven Greer, a former emergency medical physician. He's actively pursued avenues to get the U.S. government to reveal information about alien reality -- information that the powers-that-be have always maintained doesn't exist.
"Sirius" includes graphic footage of the supposedly humanoid entity of "unknown classification" by DNA sequencing.
A side view X-ray of the miniscule creature was also released to reveal its internal structure.
The film is Greer's latest effort to shine a light on the supposed cover-up about visitors from other planets.
In 1993, Greer created The Disclosure Project with the goal of getting the government to fess up its alleged UFO and ET knowledge as well as information about advanced energy and propulsion methods.
"What people need to understand is the secrecy around UFOs and extraterrestrial intelligence really has nothing to do with ETs. It has to do with humans and the power that is resting in large corporations and financial interests that do not want you to know the truth," Greer said in a video statement.
More details on the "baby" alien will be forthcoming when "Sirius" has its Hollywood premiere on April 22, followed by a limited theatrical release and simultaneous video on demand launch.
Greer further claims that, for the past 100 years, advanced science and technology have been known about that can be used by the whole world.
"This really is the greatest story never told," Greer said. "Once people understand that classified projects have figured out how UFOs operate, they will realize we no longer need oil, coal and nuclear power. This is the truth that has driven the secrecy."
Whether or not the little humanoid turns out to be from another planet or is a previously undiscovered species from good old Earth or is simply a hoax has yet to be determined.
At a baby factory in Abia State, the owner buys a baby boy for N100, 000 and a baby girl for N80, 000, which she sells to interested buyers at N450, 000 and N400, 000 respectively
Ihugwe is an isolated community in Umuozuo, Osisioma Local Government Area of Abia State, but it is well known to clients interesting in buying new born babies for various reasons. And when the men of the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NCSDC) in Abia busted the facility last week, 32 pregnant teenagers were rescued, while the proprietor and two others were arrested.
Most of the teenagers rescued, Weekly Trust heard from sources, were girls kicked out by their parents after becoming pregnant out of wedlock. The owner of the house will accept such girls, take care of them for the entire duration of their pregnancy and enter into an agreement to sell the babies after giving birth to them. It was also learnt that after giving birth, those interested can remain behind and be made pregnant again.
After giving birth, the teenagers will be paid N100, 000, for a baby boy and N80, 000 for a baby girl by the proprietor who will sell the babies to interested clients. “The owner of the maternity home sells a baby boy for N450, 000, and a girl for N400, 000,” the Public Relations Officer of NSCDC in Abia State, Victor Ogbonna, told Weekly Trust.
He said although the home is registered with the state government, the owner hides under the guise to commit all sorts of illegality.
Weekly Trust learnt that the home was commissioned last December by the proprietor Mrs. Nnenna Mba, with the help of her police-husband Agbai Mba as well as one Chinwoke Mba.
One of the teenage girls seen at the entrance of the building told Weekly Trust that “Our madam (Mrs. Mba) is detained in Umuahia by men of Civil Defence. She is innocent as she only assisting childless couples from Lagos, Abuja and Port Harcourt by selling male and female babies at an agreed fee, thus she settles the mother of the baby and takes the balance of the money.”
She claimed that her madam would soon be released by the security agent as this is not the first time she has been arrested. “They would release her to continue her service,” she said.
According to her, “visitors are not allowed into this building. Only clients who come for business or teenage girls who desire to sell their babies to prospective buyers are welcome,” she exclaimed.
A villager who refused to give her name said in December the proprietor was arrested by security agents, but the police-husband ensured her prompt bail. According to her, “that madam, the husband is a police officer from Bende Local Government Area. He has contacts with various security agents who whenever she is arrested the husband would move in and effect her bail. Elders of the community have written to the security agencies informing them of the illicit business going on in this our community.
The proprietor is not from our community, but she bought the land from one Chukwdi Ezu, an indigene. When we complained, her landlord wanted to evict her, but she got some elders to intervene on her behalf. “With the latest development, we are watching how they would do man-know-man with her police-husband and secure her bail as usual. After all, she has been taken to Abuja on several occasions only for her to come back and continue her business,” she explained.
The traditional ruler of Ahiaba-Alaocha Autonomous Community, His Royal Highness, Eze Christopher Chukwudi Otuka, in his Ikearo palace, explained that “as I speak to you, I have never gone to that orphanage, but I do know that it does exist in Umuozuo. Her area where the orphanage is located is not within my jurisdiction. It is under the jurisdiction of another monarch. “I learnt that last year she was arrested by security agents. I could only recall that sometime last year the proprietor invited her land-lord.
He confirmed to me that she was arrested over child trafficking offence and was taken to Abuja for questioning, from my calculation this is her third arrest.
“When the proprietor visited my palace with her landlord (Chukwudi), she invited me to the official commissioning of the orphanage. She said she wants to commission it for officials of Ministry of Health to inspect. She was regularly raided by security agencies for not having legal backing to operate the centre. Since I got my staff of office I have never visited the centre, because of the illegality and several complaints brought against the centre,” he added.
When Weekly Trust asked why the monarch has not written to the state government informing them of the development, he said “The Police-husband collaborates with the local security known as Abia State vigilante service alias Bakassi who give the place cover from unsuspecting villagers. So everybody was scared. Since the Bakassi security operatives are always there in the compound, who else would you report to? I believe there is a serious cartel going on with all and sundry in that orphanage home,” the monarch noted.
The Public Relations Officer of NSCDC in Abia State, Victor Ogbonna, said “intelligence gathering by the NSCDC indicates that victims were induced to sell a baby-boy for N100, 000 while a baby girl goes for N80,000. More investigation conducted shows that the suspect thereafter resells a baby-boy for N450,000 and a baby-girl for N400,000,” Ogbonna said.
He said despite the fact that the home is registered with the state government, the suspect hid under the guise to commit all sorts of illegality.
Officials of the Ministry of Women and Social Development could not be reached to obtain their reactions on the matter.
The Abia State Police Command, through its spokesman Ali Okechukwu, said the NSCDC has not officially written to them to say that a policeman was among those arrested at the maternity home and that they can only respond when they are officially notified.
Mr. Martins Idika, the Commander-General, Abia State Vigilance Service, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that the unit commander at Osisioma reported case of the arrest of one worker on duty by the officials of NSCDC on April 3.
Idika said the matter would be adequately looked into to ascertain if there was any complicity by the worker.
Deputy Governor of Ekiti State in Nigeria, Mrs Funmilayo Olayinka, has died of cancer, family sources have said.
Funmilayo Olayinka has been deputy governor of Ekiti State since 16th October 2010, advocating women’s rights in every way possible.
Mrs Olayinka, who has been receiving treatment in the UK since last month gave up the ghost earlier today. Her health had reportedly deteriorated over the last few days, according to sources close to Ekiti State government.
The 52-year-old had taken three months sick leave to get medical attention in the UK after she reportedly collapsed in December, with prayer sessions organised in Ado-Ekiti, the state capital for her recovery over the last few months.
Mrs Olayinka holds a Masters degree in public administration and a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from Central State University, Edmond, Oklahoma, where she was three times winner of the Dean’s honour roll.
She began a career in banking in Nigeria, with her last job before she was elected in 2010 was with Ecobank, where she was head of corporate services.
Mrs Olayinka is survived by her husband and three children.
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This is a list of things that will make you look bigger. I’ve tried to concentrate of things that we unintentionally wear not realizing the effect they will have. 
