Pictures of Celebs at AMVCA pre-party

Here are some of our stars at the 2014 Africa Magic Viewers' Choice Awards pre-party happening tonight. The main show will take place tomorrow at the Eko Hotel.

Kourtney Kardashian finally agrees to marry Scott Disick

After seven years of dating and two children together, reality star Kourtney Kardashian has agreed to marry Scott Disick. Scott had proposed to Kourtney many times in the past, but Kourtney always turned him down. She finally agreed to tie the knot after realizing that she and their children are all Scott has following the tragic passing of both of his parents recently. 

Life&Style magazine reports that the couple are planning to wed in Mexico soon. Meanwhile, it's being reported that Kim and Kanye have picked May 24th to wed in Paris.

US Government freezes $458million Sani Abacha cash

The United States government yesterday March 5th said it had ordered a freeze on $458 million in assets hidden in European accounts by former Nigerian dictator Sani Abacha and his conspirators.

PM News reports that the Justice Department said the corruption proceeds, stashed away in bank accounts in Britain, France and Jersey, were frozen at Washington’s request with the help of local authorities.

Abacha died in office in 1998, but his surviving relatives still include some of the richest and most influential figures in Nigeria.

According to a civil forfeiture complaint unsealed in the US District Court in Washington, the department wants the recover more than $550 million in connection with the action.

“This is the largest civil forfeiture action to recover the proceeds of foreign official corruption ever brought by the department,” said Mythili Raman, acting assistant attorney general.

“General Abacha was one of the most notorious kleptocrats in memory, who embezzled billions from the people of Nigeria while millions lived in poverty,” she said.
The Justice Department said the assets frozen — along with additional assets named in the complaint — represent the “proceeds of corruption” during and after the military regime of Abacha, who became president of Nigeria through a military coup on November 17, 1993 and held that office until his death on June 8, 1998.

The complaint alleges that Abacha, his son Mohammed Sani Abacha, their associate Abubakar Atiku Bagudu and others “embezzled, misappropriated and extorted billions from the government of Nigeria and others, then laundered their criminal proceeds through the purchase of bonds backed by the United States using US financial institutions.”
Raman said that the action sends a “clear message” that the United States is “determined and equipped to confiscate the ill-gotten riches of corrupt leaders who drain the resources of their countries.”
The US government’s Kleptocracy Asset Recovery Initiative “where appropriate” provides for the return of stolen proceeds “to benefit the people harmed by these acts of corruption and abuse of office.”
It did not specify what action would be taken with regard to the Abacha case.
The funds frozen include approximately $313 million in two bank accounts in the Bailiwick of Jersey and $145 million in two bank accounts in France, the department said.

Four investment portfolios and three bank accounts in Britain were frozen, with an estimated value of at least $100 million but the exact amounts in the accounts have not yet been determined, it said.
The Justice Department said that on February 25 and 26, authorities in Jersey, France and Britain complied with the US action to freeze the assets.
The complaint also seeks to freeze five corporate entities registered in the British Virgin Islands.
According to the complaint, Abacha and others systematically embezzled billions of dollars in public funds from Nigeria’s central bank on the false pretense that the funds were necessary for national security. They withdrew the funds in cash and then moved the money overseas through US financial institutions.

Abacha and his finance minister, Anthony Ani, also allegedly caused the Nigerian government to buy Nigerian government bonds at vastly inflated prices from a company controlled by Bagudu and Mohammed Abacha. That operation created an an illegal windfall of more than $282 million.
In addition, Abacha and his co-conspirators allegedly extorted more than $11 million from a French civil engineering company, Dumez, and its Nigerian affiliate in connection with payments on government contracts.
Funds involved in each of these schemes were laundered through the United States in nine financial institutions, the complaint alleged.
The financial institutions involved include Citibank, Chase Manhattan Bank and Morgan Guaranty Trust Company, now JPMorgan Chase, and New York-based units of Britain’s Barclays Bank and Germany’s Commerzbank.
Last week, at a ceremony to mark the centenary of Nigeria’s formation by colonial lords, the Nigerian government headed by Goodluck Jonathan honoured Abacha, along with other past leaders for services rendered to Nigeria.

Source: PM News

Nine killed in midnight attack on Riyom, Plateau

The Police in Plateau said 9 persons were killed on Tuesday night attack on Angwan-Waran in Riyom Local Government of the State.
Mr Chris Olakpe, the Commissioner of Police in Plateau, in Jos on Wednesday said that the attackers had fled the area before the arrival of security agents.
He said the police and other personnel of the Special Task Force (STF) maintaining the peace in Plateau, had stepped in and restored normalcy to the area. Continue...
 
“To check against recurrence, the police and the STF have deployed a team of security personnel to the village, while efforts are on to apprehend the attackers’’, he added.
The commissioner advised members of the public to help security agencies with any piece of information that could lead to the arrest of the attackers.
STF Media Officer, Capt. Salisu Mustapha, who also confirmed the attack, said the invaders also burnt down houses in the village before escaping.
He, however, did not give the number of houses burnt.
Mustapha said the STF had arrested three persons found with arms and ammunition suspected to have been used for the attack.
“We are interrogating the suspects’’, he said.

Source: NAN

Birdman buys his daughter a 2014 G Wagon for her 16th birthday

Music mogul Birdman's daughter, Bria Williams turned 16 yesterday March 4th and the proud papa got his princess, who he called 'my luv, my life, my best friend, my Queen, my to die 4, my to live 4' a 2014 G-Wagon.

Actor Chidi Mokeme talks about why him and his wife live apart

In an interview with Yes! magazine this week, actor Chidi Mokeme explained why his wife, Jean Chinwe Olumba, who he married in 2012, lives in the US while he lives in Nigeria....

Well, when I met my wife, this was our default setting. Let me put it like that. Our default setting was that I live in Nigeria and my wife lives in America and then we started a relationship and decided to take the relationship further and decided we were going to be man and wife. So, having taken that decision and having crossed that level, the next thing is to find a way to ease into a location. Everybody knows that you don’t just pack your bag and move in one day. There are things that need to be sorted, relocation needs to be sorted. So, we are taking our time with it. But then again, by virtue of my job, I have a pretty much very flexible timing. I own my time, I decide when to work, when not to work. So, really, I can be with my wife anytime, every time I so desire and it makes it easy. If I work 9-5, then we will always have to wait for when someone was on leave the whole year round, if I want, just to be with my wife.

World's oldest person offers tips for a long life

.Misao Okawa, who is recognised by Guinness World Records as the world's oldest woman, receives a cake during her …

Seeking advice on how to live a long time? You could do a lot worse than Misao Okawa.

 The Japanese woman will celebrate her 116th birthday on Wednesday.

Okawa (pictured above, celebrating her 115th birthday in 2013) spoke to the U.K. Telegraph about her secrets for longevity. Those hoping for an obscure secret trick ("Always jump on one foot at exactly 3:43 a.m. while playing the banjo") are in for a disappointment. Okawa attributes her incredible life span to getting plenty of sleep, eating well, and taking a nap as needed.

She told the paper, "Eat and sleep and you will live a long time. 

You have to learn to relax."

Easier said than done, of course, but when advice on living a long life comes from the world's oldest person, it's worth heeding. Okawa, born in 1898 and great-great-grandmother to six, eats sushi "at least once every month," Tomohito Okada, head of the retirement home where Okawa has lived for the past 18 years, told the Telegraph.

When asked by the Telegraph about her happiest and saddest moments, she spoke about her 1919 marriage to her husband and the birth of her three children. Her husband passed away in 1931. Her surviving children are 94 and 92, according to the Telegraph.

Okawa became the world's oldest living person last year when the previous title holder, Jiroemon Kimura, passed away at the age of 116.