The current face of the entertainment industry in Nigeria owes a lot to Ben Murray-Bruce. Not only has he been actively involved in the transformation of the industry, he has set up one of the biggest entertainment companies in Nigeria. In a few weeks from now, the affable Senator will turn 60 and the Nigerian high society cannot wait to celebrate him.
Ben Murray-Bruce has not only done well for himself and the entertainment industry, he is also passionate about the country’s development. To honour the versatile lawmaker, A- list politicians and entertainers are warming up for the D-day.
Born on February 18, 1956, Ben Murray-Bruce is the founder of Silverbird Group. A member of the People’s Democratic Party, he was elected to the Senate in March 2015 and currently represents Bayelsa East at the Upper Chamber.
Zahra Buhari knows the importance of hard work and wakes up each day determined to impact the world the best way she can. She rocks her silver spoon with a purpose and constantly seeks to give back to the society.
The stunning daughter of President Buhari is a focused young woman who understands the importance of maximising opportunities. And unlike some other silver spoon kids who love to lavish money on parties, Zahra channels her money and energy into good causes.
As she turned 21 on December 18, she showed some love to more than 430 children suffering from sickle cell anaemia. With the support of her mother, Aisha Buhari, the Sickle Cell Aid Foundation ambassador presented cartons of drugs to the foundation and spent quality time them.
Nigeria will surely be a better place if the children of the affluent follow in the footsteps of Zahra.
WAS Funke Balogun, 24, killed? Her family is alleging that she was killed.
But her boyfriend Abolade Adetunji and his family are claiming that she was electrocuted.
Funke, who was a National Diploma II student of Yaba College of Technology (YABATECH), was allegedly electrocuted on a hotel bathroom on Sunday.
The incident happened on 30, Balogun Street, Oshodi in Lagos where she and Adetunji, lodged in his mother’s hotel that was commissioned last Thursday.
Her younger sister, Funmi, said Abolade came to pick her sister at their residence on Saturday around 11pm, adding that was the last she saw of her.
She said: “Abolade was in a hurry that night and I told my sister not to go but she picked some of her things and left with him. On Sunday morning around 7, she called and said plans had changed that they were not going to the beach again but to a hotel and since then, we have been trying her mobile line. When she didn’t pick her call, I became worried. That day was her birthday and our mother still called her in the midnight to pray for her. Even, when my mum called Abolade’s mobile line, someone picked and said he forgot his phone and since then his lime has been switched off.”
Funmi said when she and some family members went to the hotel to check her, they didn’t see her, adding that the receptionist said Adetunji just stepped out and wasn’t with a girl.
“Even when we got to Abolade’s house, we were told he had gone to the beach. Around 8pm on Sunday, my cousin and I went to the hotel again, I sighted blood on the wall and when I asked Abolade’s brother, Bayo where my sister was, he said: ‘at the moment, Funke is dead’; he said it without remorse and was still icing drinks in the freezer. Even when we went to the police station, they said they were not aware of the incident. Is that how my sister will die? She has been dating him for almost a year. He just returned from National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) orientation camp in Anambra State. The boy is very proud to the extent that whenever he visited her, he didn’t greet anyone.”
Adetunji told The Nation on his hospital bed yesterday that the late Funke wanted to have her bath that morning when they realised there was no toothpaste in the toilet.
He said: “She was already in the bathroom and I went to meet my brother who was on the same floor with us to get the toothpaste. As I returned to the room, I tried to open the toilet door but it was stiff. As I gained access to the toilet, I met her on the floor with a shower handle on her right hand. When I tried to carry her, I didn’t know what happened until I saw myself on hospital bed.”
At their home, his father, Mr Jamiu Adetunji, A. K.A (Yaro), said Abolade’s elder brother called their mother that they needed a doctor.
Adetunji said: “Immediately we took them to Geo Medical Centre where Funke eventually gave up. We first took her to General Hospital, Ikeja but she was rejected because there was none of her family members with us. It was later we reported the incident to Akinpelu Police Station where they took the body to Yaba mortuary. I wouldn’t want to kill someone else’s daughter. Funke was my son’s girl friend and I told her to help me monitor his movement because at times he wouldn’t listen and since he talked about her dearly, I felt she was going to inspire him. It is really unfortunate. My son has put me in trouble. Even when they wanted to know the girl’s full name, I pinched my son few times just for him to wake up. I have arrested the electrician that connected light to the building because last Friday, occupants of the building beside the hotel complained of shock in their house and I told the electrician but he refused to come. It was after the incident he came and was arrested. “
Some family members claimed that the late Funke’s skin was still fresh when they visited the mortuary, adding that there was no sign of electrocution except for her swollen right arm.
The bereaved mother, Mrs Kehinde Balogun, said she still spoke with her daughter on Sunday morning.
She said:”Funke was my first child and she has a three-year-old son. The only reason they live alone is because her school is close to the family house in Oshodi. Why did they kill my beauty? Why? What have I done to deserve this? I wish she listened to her sister that night because she had a dream. I saw my daughter in my sleep this morning telling me she had returned. It is unfortunate. I wish it was a reality. It is a big tragedy because where she died was three houses from where I gave birth to her. I warned her about him but she told me he was okay and assured me everything was fine.”
Ghanaian actress, Jackie Appiah, who added a year on December 5th, 2015, celebrated the big day with over 60 kids at the Teshie and Osu orphanages.
The posted pictures of the exciting moment with the kids at a play house, located at airport residential area of Accra, Ghana.
“I’ve enjoyed reading all of the birthday messages and want to thank everyone who wished me a happy birthday. If you haven’t wished me a happy birthday yet, you still have some time left to do so. But honestly I really appreciate the love; “thank you” is the only words that come to mind right.”
She noted that she chose to celebrate her birthday with the less privilege instead of having a private party in the comfort of her home. “This year, my management team and I decided to bring together over 60 kids from the Teshie and Osu orphanages to a kids play house at airport residential area to celebrate my birthday with them. We also had children of family and friends. Indeed, the children of family and friends were interacting and showing love to the less privileged kids from the orphanages,” she said.
The popular publisher of daily devotional booklet, Our Daily Manna, and general overseer of Manna Prayer Mountain, Bishop (Dr.) Chris Kwakpovwe, was a year older last Sunday.
To celebrate the big day, the Ughelli, Delta State-born preacher, last Saturday, visited motherless babies homes and also offered free medical services to the aged at Our Daily Manna headquarters in Lagos. The affluent and philanthropic man of God said in his ODM booklet, “Today is my birthday! I want a bigger gift than just this birthday song! That gift is prayer!”
He strongly believes that tough times don’t last, but tough people do.
In the household of popular Ibadan businessman and President of The Ibadan Business School, Yinka Fasuyi, every day is characterised by mirth and merry. He will be 60 in a few days from now, hence he is planning a birthday party that will shake the Ibadan social firmament to its foundation.
Since Fasuyi is not a man known to do things by half measures, he is set to go all out to celebrate his life as a sexagenarian. The celebration will begin tomorrow Sunday, October 18 and end on Sunday, October 25 to coincide with his actual birthday.
To make the event more memorable, Fasuyi has made arrangements to have King Sunny Ade and Ebenezer Obey play on different days during the celebration. On October 25, there will be a thanksgiving service at All Souls Anglican Church, Old Bodija Estate, Ibadan, Oyo State.
This will be followed immediately by a reception at Jogor Event Centre.
Every September 21, family members, friends and associates join Dr. Seinye O. B. Lulu-Briggs to thank God for keeping her life for another year. While they celebrate, dance, praise and worship God together for her, she is busy celebrating the old people who she and her husband, High Chief O.B.Lulu-Briggs, carter for, under their “Care For Life” programme, of the O.B. Lulu-Briggs Foundation.
Mrs. Lulu-Briggs, a pastor, while speaking on her 57th birthday celebration and 14th year anniversary of the foundation held in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital , said: “I normally do not celebrate my birthday, I started celebrating my birthday when I had these wonderful senior citizens, who became so attached to me and it is like a new life is giving to them when we signed them on.
“Every year on my birthday, I will say I celebrate them; so I look forward to my birthday every year when I will gather old people, those from 70 and above, bring them, see them dressed very cleanly, we praise, worship God and danced together and I see joy in their faces, by this they know that truly there is God in heaven that cares for the affairs of His people down here on earth.”
O.B.Lulu-Briggs Foundation, a Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO), was inaugurated on September 21, 2001, her 43rd birthday. The vision has since then been active and making impacts across states and in communities.
Mrs Lulu-Briggs said the Foundation started very small in their living room with just one programme, “Care for Life” and 10 old people (beneficiaries) to cater for.
Fourteen years after, the Foundation has expanded to five programmes comprising Care for Life, in which over 200 indigent elderly people are registered and are being taking care of by the foundation.
The quarterly five-day rural free medical care mission of the foundation has become a house hold name across states and communities of the Niger Delta, especially Rivers State where almost all the 23 local government areas, have been visited. Several community dwellers have benefitted from this gesture that cannot be repaid by human.
The Foundation also runs a scholarship scheme through which it offers opportunities for both local and overseas studies. It also carries out water purification and access to good water programme, as well as skill acquisition/ empowerment programme, all for the indigent members of rural communities.
The celebrant, who desires to love more, care more and give more to the old people and humanity at large, said her joy is always complete each time they are around her in any occasion.
This claim clearly played out at the event on Monday, when she directed that the birthday/vision day celebration service be delayed for a while to allow the beneficiaries arrive from their various communities.
She had earlier sent vehicles to convey them to the new building of Chapel of God International Worship Centre in Port Harcourt, venue of the event.
Speaking on her 14 years of service to humanity, the celebrant was not fully satisfied with the time she has so far spent on serving humanity when compared with the number of years she has spent on earth. She wished the foundation had started earlier and more grounds already covered.
“Today I am very happy, but the way I feel now, if I have to think of using 14 years out of 57 years to start a foundation and keep it running till today, serving humanity, I will say one could have done more because 14/57, I don’t think that is a pass mark; in all however, I give God the glory.”
She called for people to partner with the foundation to provid more care, hope and health to more persons.
At the thanksgiving service, the guest minister, Apostle Zilly Aggrey, speaking on the topic entitled, “Grace for purpose”, said obedience of the celebrant to the call of God on her life attracted the grace of God upon her for that purpose.
•Apostle Aggrey and others praying for the celebrant
Apostle Aggrey noted that without the incredible grace of God it is impossible for anyone to do good. According to him, God created everybody with purpose and the earlier each person discovered and runs with his/ her purpose in life while there is yet time, the better for him and humanity.
Speaking about the celebrant, the preacher, described her as a gift from God, a woman of great passion in good doing.
“Pastor Mrs. Seinye O.B. Lulu-Briggs is a gift from God, to her husband, children and humanity. From the little I know about her is that she lives her life, working and praying every day to figure out what she can do to make someone happy.
Also speaking on how the giving lifestyle of his boss, Mrs. O.B.Lulu-Briggs and her husband has impacted his life and that of his other colleagues in the last 14 years, the programme Director of the Foundation, Miebaka Nabiebu, a lawyer, said: “I have learnt life transforming lessons over this years, one of the very crucial one being the ability and willingness to give. I have learnt through my mentor in the school of giving and boss in service, the Executive Director of the Foundation whom we are celebrating today, to give, give and always give, without any afterthought.
There are a few things in life on which you can’t put a price tag. One of them is a lifetime full of happy memories and outstanding accomplishments. Penultimate Tuesday, Abuja the Federal Capital Territory went agog with excitement when the former National Chairman of PDP, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, celebrated his 80th birthday. No doubt, Tukur is a living inspiration and a live example of perseverance. It came as no surprise that his 80th birthday turned out to be a grand affair. The celebration began with a birthday lecture in the morning of his special day.
It was later followed by a grand birthday reception, held at Ladi Kwali Hall, Shahraton Hotel. Tukur’s wife, Haija Fatimah, left no stone unturned in organising the most colourful and majestic birthday reception Abuja has seen in a while. Apart from the celebrant, one person who also enjoyed the party was the host herself, Hajia Fatima Tukur, who looked radiant that day. In attendance were former Senate President, Dr. Joseph Wayas; former Akwa Ibom State Governor, Obong Victor Attah; former Niger State Governor, Babangida Aliyu and many others.
The lawmaker representing Ibadan North State Constituency in the Oyo State House of Assembly, Hon. Segun Olaleye has celebrated his 43rd birthday with the physically-challenged.
Hon. Olaleye, who visited the Oluyole Cheshire Home in Sango area of the state, donated food items such as bags of rice, indomie noddle, wheat, semolina, drinks and other valuable items to the inmates.
The lawmaker said the gesture aimed at identifying with the physically-challenged in the society. He noted that no government in the history of Oyo State appreciates the less-privileged as the Senator Abiola Ajimobi-led administration. He, therefore, urged the people to support the governor in transforming the state.
Hon. Olaleye noted that the legislative and other arms of government never regretted the way the state governor is managing the affairs of the state, saying that if the state is being governed by another party other than the All Progressives Congress (APC), the state would have collapsed by now.
“We are here to celebrate with you. We are here to show you that we care about you. We are here to complement you. I am here to tell you that no government in the history of Oyo State ever appreciates the physically-challenged people as the present administration is doing.
“Governor Ajimobi appointed a Special Adviser on Disability which none of the previous administrations had done. We have no regret the way Governor Ajimobi has been managing the affairs of this state. If it were other parties in the state, the economy of Oyo State would have collapsed by now. I want to assure you that the state government will continue to support your home at all times,” he said.
The representative of the physically-challenged people, Mr. Kayoed Lawal appreciated the lawmaker’s gesture, saying he could have decided to celebrate his birthday with his friends and relations rather than the physically-challenged.
He said: “We appreciate your generosity and we pray that God will be with you and your family. This home has a school. We have primary and secondary school here. We also have some intending students but we have limited resources. We need government’s support. This home has contributed immensely to the rehabilitation of the disabled in Nigeria, especially in Oyo State. We want you to help us more.”
The Matron of the home, Mrs Abosede Olafikun said the lawmaker has proved that he cares about the less-privileged, especially the physically-challenged, even as she urged other lawmakers to emulate him.
Pominent entertainment industry personalities recently gathered in Lagos as multi-talented gospel artiste and United Nations Peace Ambassador, Charles Granville celebrated his birthday.
The event which was hosted by ace comedian, Omo Baba had in attendance top personalities like 9ice, ID Cabasa, Don T, Nosa, Obi Emelonye, among many others who took out time to be part of the celebration and listen to his new single titled Angel.
Charles released the new single few days to his birthday and dedicated it to the memory of his late friend, Peter Bello, who was a victim of the Bristow Helicopter Crash in Lagos. The new single which reflects Charles’ vocal dexterity was produced by ID Cabasa and recorded as a soundtrack for Chico Ejiro’s latest Movie, When Dreams Fall Apart. It was nominated in the Best Movie Soundtrack category at the 2014 edition of the Abuja Film International Festival.
Charles ventured into Nollywood in 2012 when he made an appearance in Obi Emelonye’s movie, Last Flight To Abuja, where he played the role of a company executive and acted alongside top actors such as Hakeem Kae-Kazeem, Omotola Ekehinde, Jim Iyke, Jide Kosoko and Anthony Monjaro. He also wrote the theme song, By My Side, for the movie.
The 2015 edition of Charles’ annual concert is slated for October 10, 2015 in Port-Harcourt, Rivers State.
