Nollywood stars at Patience Jonathan's mum's Service of Songs

The First Lady's foster mum's service of songs held today in Okrika Rivers State and quite a number of our Nollywood stars including Nkem Owoh, Patience Jonathan, Jennifer Eliogu, Onyeka Onwenu, Chinedu Ikedieze, and Ebube Nwagbo, attended. Ebube shared some photos on her Twitter page. See more photos when you continue...

Pics: Iyanya spends birthday at Ikoyi prisons; performs with inmates

Afro-pop superstar Iyanya celebrated his birthday today with a visit to Ikoyi Prisons. The singer who just turned 27 was welcomed warmly by the DCP Bamidele and the community; he proceeded into the correctional facility where he spoke with the inmates.

Highlights of the visit included his performance with the talented intimates; Iyanya also pledged to build a recording studio in the establishment for the musically inclined inmates. More pics after the cut

Sahara desert deaths: 92 migrants perish in Niger after vehicle breakdowns

The migrants had been trying to reach Algeria, Azaoua Mahaman of the Synergie nongovernmental organization said Thursday.Instead, they died of dehydration, unable to escape the sandy wastes of the Sahel.A total of 92 bodies have been found, Niger security forces told CNN on Thursday. Synergie  earlier put the number found at 87.

see more photos below

see the video below

read more at CNN

Actress Liz Anjorin explains why she dumped christianity for Islam

Popular actress Liz Anjorin surprised many recently when photos of her on Muslim Pilgrimage to Mecca surfaced online. She later announced that she was changing her religion from Christianity to Islam. She also dropped the name Elizabeth and announced that she would like to be addressed as Aisha, in light with her new religion.

Liz tells City People

"It happened in a miraculous way which I have been expecting for long, not that I woke up yesterday and decided to change my religion. By birth, I was half Muslim and half Christian. My father was Christian while my mum was Muslim. Growing up I went to church because of my father. I didn't have a choice at the time but I have always had interest in Islam so immediately my father died I switched over to my mum's religion. It is a religion I love so much. Also Aisha is now my official name though Liz is still my name and I will continue to use the name to do movies.

Marvin Gaye heirs sue 'Blurred Lines' artists

Los Angeles (CNN) -- Robin Thicke's summertime hit "Blurred Lines" is an illegal rip-off of Marvin Gaye's "Got to Give It Up," Gaye's children claim in court documents filed Wednesday.

Fans, journalists and music experts immediately recognized similarities between Gaye's 1977 hit and the 2013's summertime smash, Gaye's heirs contend.

The controversy is a high-stakes legal fight involving an alleged conflict of interest with Sony-ATV, the music publisher half-owned by Michael Jackson's estate.

Gaye's heirs not only accuse Thicke and "Blurred Lines" co-writers Pharrell Williams and "T.I." Clifford Harris Jr. of copying Gaye's song, but they also contend Sony-ATV failed to meet its responsibility to protect the copyright.

The Gaye family contracted with Sony-ATV after the singer-songwriter's death to administer his music catalog, but it also represents Williams' songs, according to a counterclaim filed Wednesday in response to a lawsuit filed by Thicke, Williams and Harris.

The publisher, however, refused to sue the "Blurred Lines" writers when the family asked them to do so, the Gaye's lawyer said. As a result they "reluctantly" included Sony-ATV as a defendant in their counterclaim, he said.

The "Blurred Lines" writers filed their pre-emptive lawsuit in August asking a federal judge to declare that their song was not a copyright infringement on Gaye's work amid public rumblings about the similarities.

Thicke's inital lawsuit contends there are "no similarities" between his song and Gaye's "other than commonplace musical elements"

"Being reminiscent of a 'sound' is not copyright infringement," his complaint argues.

The Gaye family counterclaim includes Thicke quotes from an interview with Billboard Magazine published in July.

"Pharrell and I were in the studio making a couple records, and then on the third day I told him I wanted to do something kinda like Marvin Gaye's 'Got To Give It Up,' that kind of feel 'cause it's one of my favorite songs of all time," Thicke reportedly said. "So he started messing with some drums and then he started going 'hey, hey, hey' and about an hour and a half later we had the whole record finished." 

The filing also quotes what music journalist wrote about the two songs.

New York Times writer Rob Hoerburger: "And that bass line came right from Marvin Gaye's No. 1 hit from the summer of '77, 'Got to Give It Up'."

Rolling Stone magazine contributor David Ritz: "When I first heard Robin Thicke's 'Blurred Lines,' my reaction was the same as millions of other R&B fans: Hey, that's Marvin Gaye's 'Got to Give It Up.' "

Vice magazine music critic Paul Cantor: "You probably don't feel guilty for liking 'Blurred Lines.' Maybe that's because it was originally a Marvin Gaye song ("Got To Give It Up") and Marvin Gaye is ... awesome."

The filing by the heirs also includes a report from musicologist Judith Finell, who identified a "constellation of at least eight substantially similar compositional features between the two works."

"The signature phrase, vocal hook, backup vocal hook, their variations, and the keyboard and bass lines" are substantially similar and they share "departures from convention such as the unusual cowbell instrumentation, omission of guitar and use of male falsetto," it said.

Gaye's heirs also accuse Thicke of stealing from their father's 1976 hit "After the Dance" when he recorded "Love After War" in 2011. Those tunes "contain substantially similar compositional material in their choruses, including the melodies of their hooks," the Gaye filing contends.

The family suggests that Thicke has a "Marvin Gaye fixation."

"Blurred Lines" stayed at the top of Billboard's pop chart for a record 16 weeks this summer and sold more than 6 million copies, according to court documents.

Google releases Nexus 5 phone with Kit Kat

(CNN) -- Google on Thursday released its latest candy-themed mobile operating system: Android 4.4, more deliciously known as Kit Kat.

The system will launch immediately on Google's new Nexus 5 phone and then roll out to other Nexus devices, the Samsung Galaxy S4 and HTC One, in the next few weeks.

Nexus devices are Google's flagship line of phones and tablets, running the newest and purest form of Android and available without contracts. The Nexus 5, manufactured by LG, is built to work internationally on a variety of bands and with whatever local SIM card you pick up, though Verizon's band is still not supported.

Physically, the 5-inch Nexus is a bit thinner and lighter than the previous generation, while packing a faster Snapdragon 800 processor. It has optical image stabilization and a new HDR camera feature for combining multiple exposures into a single photo, lightening up dark areas and bringing details back to images blown out by a flash.

The Nexus 5 is available online today in 10 countries and will be available in retail stores like Best Buy. It's a wider rollout than for previous generations of Nexus phones. The 16 GB version will cost $349 without a contract and the 32 GB version will go for $399, also without a contract.

The phone also will be the first to have the new Kit Kat features, many of which attempt to break down the walls between web, search, apps and communication tools.

The phone app -- widely neglected since Android smartphones first came out -- gets more search power in Kit Kat, pulling in search results for business as well as your usual roster of contacts. Incoming calls from business are recognized automatically in caller ID, while pulling data from the same database that powers Google Maps.

Kit Kat also adds support for third-party cloud services like Box so you can see files stored on the device and in the cloud. Google Hangouts absorbs SMS and MMS messages, so your chats, video calls and texts are all together in one place.

Google Now, the company's app for serving up answers to questions you haven't even asked yet, is adding new categories. It can deduce your interests based on your web searches -- say, "The Walking Dead," or corgis -- and add a card to Google Now with the latest information about those interests. If there's a specific site you check a lot that is only sporadically updated, Google Now might alert you to new posts when they happen.

It's also tapping the power of crowds. Google Now knows your location, and Google knows what people at that exact spot during that time are most likely to search. For example, someone standing in front of Old Faithful at Yellowstone might search for a schedule of when the geyser is going to erupt. Google Now will automatically show you the times without your searching.

Google Search on Kit Kat is not limited to content from the web. Google is starting to index content deep inside of individual apps, so if you search for a recipe it might show a web page and a link to a cooking app you already have installed. For now, it will only work with installed apps, but Google says its working on adding support for apps in the Google Play store, which could be a clever way to sell more apps.

Kit Kat is also Google's attempt to address one the bigger problems plaguing Android: OS fragmentation. Low-end Android devices are big sellers in emerging markets like China and India, but because of their limited memories and pokey processors, they typically run older versions of the Android operating system, like Gingerbread.

The decision of what version of Android to ship on these devices is up the manufacturers. But Google is trying hard to make its newest OS more appealing for these markets by upgrading it to use less processor power and memory.

Deeper Life's Pastor Kumuyi builds N1b Anchor University campus

The General Overseer of Deeper Life Bible Ministries, Pastor William Kumuyi is currently building an untra modern campus for his N1billion private university called Anchor University. 

The proposed site for the campus is a vast expanse of land, which has already been fenced, along the Lagos/Ibadan Express way. The campus will serve as the permanent site of Anchor University whose main campus is sited inside Deeper Life's multibillion IBTC headquarters at Ayobo-Ipaja, Lagos.

The new campus will include hostels, faculties, administrative blocks, chalets, laboratories etc.

NPF says this pic of an ACP fondling a lady's boobs is photoshopped

The photo above went viral last week. It shows a senior police officer believed to be an Assistant Commissioner of Police fondling the boobs of a light skinned lady. The Nigerian Police Force released a statement via their Facebook page a few days ago claiming the pic is Photoshopped. It doesn't look Photoshopped cos it Looks like the lady took the photo herself...

Women gather at Federal Secretariat in support of Aviation Minister

A small group of women this morning gathered at the Federal Secretariat in Abuja, in support of embattled minister of Aviation, Ms Stella Oduah. The women carried placards which read 'a fight against Stella Oduah is a fight against women'.

Rihanna covers her tribal hand tattoo with a more hideous tattoo

Earlier this month Rihanna shocked her fans by getting a traditional maori tattoo performed with a chisel and mallet. She just got the painful memento covered up...with a more hideous tattoo.

According to reports, Rihanna was so over her maori tattoo that she flew her New York tattoo artist Bang Bang to the Dominican Republic to cover it between tour dates! Check out the new ink she got after the cut...

Photo: Chinese-built Lagos Light Rail system under construction in Surulere

Lagos is working! Fashola is working! :-) Photo courtesy Joe Penney/Reuters

Forbes releases World's Most Powerful list, puts Putin ahead of Obama

Forbes just released its World's Most Powerful People list and put Russian president Vladamir Putin ahead of US president Barack Obama. That's wack! They also said Dangote is more powerful than President Goodluck Jonathan. Dangote was placed 64th most powerful person in the world, Jonathan didn't make the list. See the rest after the cut...

23-man shortlist for World Footballer of the Year unveiled

Will Lionel Messi be crowned World's Best Footballer for the 5th time in a row or will Christiano Ronaldo get it...for the second time? Or maybe there's someone else who deserves it instead? The 2013 Ballon D'or shortlist for World's Best Player and Coach of the Year has been unveiled. See the nominees below...

(1) Gareth Bale (Real Madrid/Wales) 
(2) Philipp Lahm (Bayern Munich/Germany) 
(3) Thomas Muller (Bayern Munich/Germany) 
(4) Manuel Neuer (B ayern Munich/Germany) 
(5) Bastian Schweinsteiger (Bayern Munich/Germany) 
(6) Mesut Ozil (Arsenal/Germany) 
(7) Robin van Persie (Man United/Netherlands) 
(8) Arjen Robben (Bayern Munich/Netherlands) 
(9) Edinson Cavani (PSG/Uruguay) 
(10) Luis Suarez (Liverpool/Uruguay) 
See the rest after the cut...


(11) Andres Iniesta (Barcelona/Spain) 
(12) Xavi (Barcelona/Spain) 
(13) Neymar (Barcelona/Brazil) 
(14) Thiago Silva (PSG/Brazil) 
(15) Radamel Falcao (Monaco/Colombia)
(16) Andrea Pirlo (Juventus/Italy) 
(17) Frank Ribery (Bayern Munich/France) 
(18) Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid/Portugal)
(19) Eden Hazard (Chelsea/Belgium) 
(20) Zlatan Ibrahimovic (PSG/ Sweden) 
(21) Robert Lewandowski (Dortmund/Poland) 
(22) Lionel Messi (Barcelona/ Argentina) 
(23) Yaya Toure (Manchester City/Ivory Coast) 

Coach of the Year
(1) Carlo Ancelotti (Real Madrid) 
(2) Rafael Benitez (Napoli)
(3) Antonio Conte (Juventus) 
(4) Vicente Del Bosque (Spain) 
(5) Sir Alex Ferguson (ex-Manchester United) 
(6) Jupp Heynckes (ex-Bayern Munich)
(7) Jurgen Klopp (Borussia Dortmund) 
(8) Jose Mourinho (Chelsea) 
(9) Luiz Felipe Scolari (Brazil) 
(10) Arsene Wenger (Arsenal) 

14 year old boy rapes 9 year old girl to death in Ikorodu

Unbelievable sad story of how a teenage boy raped a 9yr old girl to death in the Ikorodu area of Lagos


  From punch

      The police in Lagos State have commenced investigation into how a nine-year-old girl died, after           sustaining injuries caused by alleged consistent rape. According to police authorities, the deceased was raped over five times, by a 14-year-old student, Onyi Adimabua, in the Ikorodu area of the state.
The father of the deceased, Simeon Jigo, told Punch Metro that Onyi is the son of the proprietor of the school his daughter attended. He said his daughter opened up about the rape when she started having medical problems. The 77-year-old man said his daughter died on October 3, 2013.
He said, “Up until my daughter’s death, she was a pupil of Fulfilled Greenland School, Ikorodu, and she was in primary three. One day, she came home and started complaining of pains around her vagina, stomach area. We rushed her to Ikorodu General Hospital.

“A doctor checked her and after conducting some tests on her, told us that my daughter had sustained medical complications due to forced sexual intercourse. I was alarmed by this; so, I had a private discussion with my daughter.

“She told me that it was her school proprietor’s son, Onyi, that had been raping her. The boy had threatened to kill her if she ever told anyone about it.”

The indigene of Ondo State told PUNCH Metro that after initial treatments, he took his daughter to Arogbo in Ondo State to be taken care of but her condition continued to deteriorate.
A few days after the troubled father travelled to Ondo State, Onyi, accompanied by his parents, also travelled to Ondo State, to apologise to Jigo’s family. The girl, however, was said to have died that very day.

 “On getting to the house where my daughter was, we discovered that she was dead. Onyi confessed that he had been raping my daughter prior to her death,’ Jigo said.
PUNCH Metro learnt that after the girl’s demise, irate youths in the area attempted to lynch the 14-year-old boy.

The bereaved father was said to have intervened and reported the matter to a nearby police station, where the teenager was held for safe keeping. The next morning, Onyi and his parents travelled back to Lagos.

The alleged rapist’s parents, in company with a chief in Ikorodu, reportedly visited Jigo when he returned to Lagos. The group were said to have pleaded that the bereaved father should not pursue the case but he refused.

Jigo said, “I went to the Ikorodu Police station to report the case but was surprised when the policemen on duty said I should not write any statement.  They only told me to write down my telephone number and said they would call me later.
“After waiting for many days without any call, I wrote a petition and the matter was transferred to the State Criminal Investigation Department, Yaba.”
It was however learnt that Onyi had been taken to his father’s hometown in Delta State thereby stalling police investigation.

The teenager’s parents,  however described the incident as the handiwork of the devil.
The 14-year-old boy’s father, Andrew Adimabua, said, “I trained that boy in the way of the Lord and expected so much from him. He has confessed to the act; there is nothing to hide. He told me that he learnt about sex by watching blue (pornographic) films.

“We are not hiding him and we will cooperate with the police. On the day the little girl died, he was beaten up and made to stay in the rain for hours. As a result, he contracted pneumonia so we sent him home for treatment. When he recovers, he’ll be taken to the police for questioning.”
Police Public Relations Officer, Ngozi Braide, who confirmed the incident to our correspondent on the telephone, expressed shock at the development.

Braide said Onyi would be re-arrested in the course of investigation.
“It is appalling that a teenager could indulge in such act. The matter is under investigation and the culprit will be re-arrested.”

Photos: Lady Gaga performs completely naked at London show

Lady Gaga obviously has no limits. And with all that talent she has she probably doesn't need this. She performed completely naked at a London gay club on Saturday night. She began her performance at G.A.Y in this long, white petticoat-style gown, and later took off her dress in front of the audience. See more photos after the cut...

Openly gay comedian Matt Lucas later wrote on his twitter page