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  • Watch it…someone is sucking your energy!… (2)

    I had no doubt as I wrote the column of last week on the stealing of psychic energy among men that it would be trailed by as many enquiries as one would expect from a column on erectile dysfunction (ED) or the BIG VD. The column of last week was titled…WATCH IT…SOMEONE IS SUCKING YOUR ENERGY! It was about how to recognise if any illness you suffer from is caused by your loss of vital energy to someone you are relating with, husband or wife, friend or boss or subordinate, child or parent, who, consciously or not, may be sucking you dry of energy and leaving you devitalised, fatigued, sick and/or diseased.

    This is knowledge long known to people of old, who employed it to protect themselves against energy-thieving neighbours, but has been lost and buried in the sands of time from which, in our time, it is now being unearthed like many other grains of knowledge, from the ruins of Peruvian monasteries. In WATCH IT…SOMEONE IS SUCKING YOUR ENERGY, it was shown that the Sons of the Incas founded one of the most prosperous civilisations around Peru in Southern America. The empire comprised about 10million people in a vast land mass, which covered today’s PERU, BOLIVIA, CHILE, ECUADOR, ARGENTINA. The empire had no currency, no business-class, no shops, no markets, no companies, yet it was about the most prosperous country on earth. It paid more attention to agriculture, housing and architecture, and to massive construction of roads than to any other question, including, perhaps, defence, which was probably why 170 rag tag Spanish bandits, hunting for gold and silver, could sack this sprawling empire and leave the final destruction, through an epidemic, to European invaders.

    JAMES REDFIELD takes us through his Epic book, CELESTINE PROPHESY, to the scavengers for knowledge in the ruins of Peruvian monasteries where nine MANUSCRIPTS are believed hidden in which are written for posterity secret knowledge for our Age. One of these Manuscripts mentions the four human dramas or methods by which, corrosively, human beings steal energy from one another to cause health and other forms of impoverishment. (It is suggested that the first part of this column be read in www.olufemikusa.com for a good grasp of this one).

    SOME of my friends, who have James Redfield’s book, CELESTINE PROPHESY, have dusted it up in their libraries since the mention of it last week in this column. Comments have come from other people, who wish to learn more about the Sons of the Incas and the other grains of knowledge hidden in their NINE MANUSCRIPTS which, like their silver and gold, have been entombed in the bowels of the Earth until such time as high guardians would deem it appropriate that the time is ripe to release them to a deserving civilisation.

    I know joy, for at least two reasons, in returning this week to the Sons of the Incas. First, a large number of humanity who profess Islam as a religion has just celebrated Eld-el-kabir. Even if you do not believe in the concept of that event, the fact that it is an opportunity for the adherents to turn away momentarily from worldly events provides a platform on which to discuss transcendental questions.

    Secondly, for me and an increasingly growing circle of Truth seekers unfettered by religion and its dogmas, the month of September is one of those three special months in the Gregorian Calendar year when great events happen in the Universe, which are of immense profit as support for the efforts of man to achieve spiritual ascent or reassurance from the World of Matter. This month, as in every September, there is an outpouring of power or energy to womanhood throughout Creation, including the earth, its outpost, to help the woman, who opens herself to it, to fulfil the high task which her Creator places in her hands. This high task is not Motherhood or marriage, as many women have been misled to assume. It is to keep alive in humanity the flame of the longing for its home, Paradise. It is because womanhood has failed in this regard that everything, everywhere is upside down because humanity hardly now knows about its home, let alone longs for it, and is, therefore, unable to draw from it such high values and support which, impacted on earthly affairs, would have made the earth a gross material image of Paradise. For Christians, isn’t that what we pray for in THE LORD’S PRAYER when we utter the words…”thy Kingdom come, thy Will be done on earth?”

     

    Sons of the Incas

    They believed they were the sons of the Sun and daughters of the Moon and were sun worshippers. They had TWELVE VISIONS of the World. The World is the Universe or Creation and not just the earth. One of their VISIONS, which is of interest to me today, is what we call COINCIDENCE. We believe in coincidences or chance events, such as chance meeting. They do not think so.

    According to James Redfield’s account of COINCIDENCE, as described in the first INSIGHT of the Peruvian Manuscript, this word takes a meaning different from what a standard English Language dictionary tells us it is. The insight says there is nothing like CO-INCIDENCE. What we call coincidences are events arranged by forces mightier than us to lead us aright from the start of our life’s journey to its very end. That means we are on this earth to undertake a journey for a purpose. Every person and every event that would make this journey successful has been pre-arranged and will surface at the right time to link up with the others as though it were a link in a chain. We, ourselves, are the authors of our Journeys. The so-called coincidences are, therefore, merely the tools that help us have a successful journey, if we recognise them and use them aright.

    In this regard, let me share a few experiences…

    • There was someone in whose care I could entrust my life, if it was right to do so. One day, I received a shocker of my life. He called me on the telephone. After we spoke, he supposedly hung up. But he failed to switch off his phone.Over the next five minutes or so, I shivered inside me as I was hearing some of the most uncomplementary things about me he was discussing with other people who were with him. At first I didn’t know what to do. Should I cut the phone at my end and call him later or should I wait until we would meet, or should I send him a text message? I hung the phone and called him back to let him know I heard everything. He fell silent for about one minute and I switched off. When I studied his relationship with me, I discovered that, indeed, for years, he had been an INTERROGATOR…! The phone episode was not a co-incidence. I was to be helped to know him better and to beware of him. And he was guided to expose or to reveal himself. An interrogator is fault-finding person with a mission to destroy, who is never satisfied with anything you do, however, well done you do it within the limits of resources, time and skill, because his mission is not objective evaluation or assessment, but destruction (please see the article WATCH IT…SOMEONE IS SUCKING YOUR ENERGY in www.olufemikusa.com).

    I have lost touch now with one young woman who was a student of my wife when she taught at Lagos State University (LASU). She was a Yoruba moslem girl, who wanted to marry a Christian man from Benin. Her parents forced her to marry a Yoruba moslem man. She thought she was suffering in the marriage, which had produced three children. She began to think seriously about her Christian Benin boyfriend. They had lost contact. But one day, while rushing to catch a bus in Lagos, she and one man collided. He was a mail runner for his company. The letters he was going to dispatch were flying on the road. One of them bore the name and address of the Christian Edo man on the envelope. She begged the mail runner to let her write the address, after apologising for her role in their collision and explaining her predicament. He obliged her. They became friends. She met with her former boyfriend whose marriage, too, was in tatters. He was a Catholic. His Rev. Father said he could have anything to do with her only if she was divorced. At that time, this column featured the concept of the GUARDIAN ANGELS. She came to me to ask if it was her guardian angel, who led her back to her boyfriend and to ask if she could leave her family for him. I told her that must be a personal decision. About two years later, I found she was still married to her husband. My assumption was that it was possible the meeting with her “lost” boyfriend was arranged to let her realise that the cycle of their relationship had closed, and it was better for her to make the best of her new relationship.

    Our prayers are answered through a process of so-called circumstances. If we recognise these events for what they are and employ their services, our prayers get answered. If we do not, we tend to wait for eternity for an answer. If, for example, we are professionals and need money from our business for whatever purpose, our thoughts float away from us into the wide expanse of Creation. There, the beings who are behind the forces of these GUARDIANS make the necessary arrangements for the fulfillment of our dreams. We may be led to go and eat in a restaurant one day. Someone else, too, may be led to come there for a meal. We may be complete strangers. Over my meal, I may suddenly look up and my eyes may meet with those of this man. Our eyes may meet again two or three more times. If I then walk up to him and start a friendly conversation, in the knowledge that those eye contacts were not mere coincidences, something bigger may come out of our meeting, if not then, at a later time. And when I begin to reap bountiful harvests of goodness from that meeting, I may on reflection say it was a co-incidence if I was ignorant of these arrangements. But if I was in conscious activity, I would know we were arranged to meet.

    In this knowledge one should not fail to give of oneself if anyone asks one for help, for one may have been arranged to offer that help in the ceaseless activity of GIVING and TAKING, a Law of Nature, which guarantees that no-one goes away empty-handed.

     

    What it all boils down to, according to the FIRST INSIGHT of the Peruvian MANUSCRIPTS, is that:

     

    • We are on this earth as unconscious beings
    • We are to become conscious beings through self development
    • The understanding of co-incidence is the first step in this direction
    • We must learn to understand the message in every seeming co-incidence and consciously employ them for our good
    • We begin to become conscious-living human beings when we begin to become conscious of co-incidences, which help us fulfil our potentials and purpose on our journey
    • We begin to feel a sense of unfolding purpose and that, behind this unfolding or unfurling of our lives, a process is operating behind the scene. “The process begins by awakening us and then supporting our guidance to a spiritual connection”.
    • As we continue to mature in this regard, we should not set out any day to work without asking, for example, who would we meet today? What information would arrive that would shape our life direction?

    The first insight leads to the second, an understanding of human trajectory over millennia, including why, at this time, humans have immediate access in the global village to “almost all subjects imaginable” or “the longer now”, as it is called. That means google, internet, whatsapp, operamini, YouTube and the likes of them are not coincidences but tools or bridges to a mightier civilisation. The third insight is about the Universal laws, “which govern the unseen spiritual world” of which we are a part. The fourth, is “the struggle for power (featured in the first part of this column. It reveals the world “as a field of spiritual energy”. The fifth is the “message of mystic”. The sixth is called “cleaning the past”. It teaches us to let go the struggle for power and stealing of energy. The seventh “Engaging the Flow”. When we stop controlling other people, consciously or otherwise, to steal their energy, we can plug directly into the Universal Energy, that is Life. That is when we can “discover our life’s work or Mission and start making a meaningful contribution to the world”.

    In the eight, we learn about how we are helped on in our journey by other people if we, too, help other people. The ninth shows an “emerging culture” in which “we must enhance our attitude of giving as we communicate…we must uplift others by looking past their ego or defence mechanisms to see their spiritual essence”.

    In soundoheart.org, a reader of Celestine Prophesy helps us on:

    “What is coincidence? The first Insight in the Celestine Prophesy tends to capture our attention and fire our imagination because it taps into what mythic reality has always taught that there is a golden key magic, stranger, a meaningful dream or an unexpected clue that appears to guide us effortlessly to the treasure or opportunity that we seek. Psychologist Karl Jung, called it the archetype of magical effects and claimed that it was a Universal trait in humans. Coincidence are the stuff of stories by firelight, and laughing memories at weddings and tales of inordinate success and sublime irony. Life stories are studded by the mysterious by-products of chance meetings, missed trends, books opening to a significant passage, ajar doors, overheard conversations, a meeting of the eyes across a crowded room. Most of the sometime higgledy piggledy nature of employment resumes can be explained by the effects of coincidental jobs opportunity that were not part of a career plan. For example, Elizabeth Kubler-Ross, the famous expert on death and dying, describes in women of power (by Laurel King) a turning point in a residency with Dr. Sydeney Margolin: “…one day, while I was putting together polygraph machine, he came in and said he had to go somewhere and I would have to take over his lectures. This was like replacing God! I die a thousand deaths…He said (the lecture) had to be about psychiatric, but I could pick any subject. I went to the library to see if there was anything written on death and dying because I thought the students really needed to know about it.” Perhaps her choice of Subject was unknowingly shaped by her early experience in war relief in Europe from which she still carries the images of those who perished in the death camps. Or perhaps this was a point of Divine intervention. Whatever guided her choice of subject that day, Kubler-Ross initial lecture on death and dying started a chain of events that changed the directions of her life and opened up what turned out to be a life’s mission. The first insight has us start at the beginning at that very point of convergence where life’s mystery stares back at us, outside our logical expectations and experience. Becoming conscious of the reality of coincidence and aware of their message and minding is the first step of evolving consciously and quickly.

    “When was the last time you experienced something out of the ordinary? Perhaps this morning, you were thinking about someone and then got a phone call from that person. How many times have you said “I was just thinking about you? Did you consider why this coincidence might have happened? What follows it? We tend to take for granted many of the subtle, ordinary chance occurences and often it is often only really startling effects that make us shake our heads in wonderment.”

     

    Back to the control dramas

    What we all coincidences are actually what bring us into contact with people who impact control dramas upon us, if we, too, are people who are still homogeneous with this level of human existence. When they impact upon us, we are not being punished for our own faults but only to make us see ourselves through them. As Christians, we remember that the Lord Jesus, in fact, admonished us to remove beams from our eyes before we attempt to remove the mote from our neighbour’s eyes. As we ourselves move away from these dramas, we learn or recognise how to help people who are still hold down in the quicksand that this level of existence can be.

  • 1,400 fans to watch Iwobi, Iheanacho

    1,400 fans to watch Iwobi, Iheanacho

    When the Nigeria’s Super Eagles battle Senegal in today’s international friendly, only a pantry of 1400 will watch the encounter at the Hive.

    And The Hive, being a League 2 grounds, is not only far less expensive to hire than some of the bigger stadiums, it also has on-site training facilities, which make it a one-stop shop for travelling teams.

    Coupled with a large British-Nigerian population in London – the 2011 census suggested over 100,000 Nigerian-born Brits live in the capital – it seems a decent prospect.

    Indeed, you might expect a large appetite to see their stars in the flesh playing for the Super Eagles against top quality opposition. But that doesn’t seem to be the case.

    If you thought attendances were bad for tournaments like the Cup of Nations, where stadiums are often under half full, today’s ticket sales are something of a shock.

    With entry as little as £10 for adults in some areas, and £5 for under-14s, and such a plethora of Premier League stars on show, you would hope for a decent turn-out, given the dearth of quality football available during an international break.

    The Hive holds a little over 6,000 fans, is incredibly easy to access by public transport, and is convenient for many of London’s vast number of football supporters. Surely it should be full for a showpiece fixture, even if it is a friendly!

     

  • ‘Include vigilance groups in neighbourhood watch’

    ‘Include vigilance groups in neighbourhood watch’

    The Lagos State Commander of the Vigilance Group of Nigeria (VGN), Otumba James Udoma has called on the state government to include VGN in the security apparatus of the state, especially for community policing.

    While reacting to the recent disclosure by Ambode that the state government will soon recruit 5,000 neighbourhood watchers for community policing duties in the state, Udoma said: “If we are talking about 5,000 officers for community policing, involve VGN because our men are already trained for the job.”

    While commending Ambode for his interest and concern over security situation in Lagos State and recognising community policing as a major solution, Udoma said when VGN is incorporated into the state security apparatus, they will serve in gathering security information for the police to be more proactive in their policing efforts.

    “It will also involve the engagement of so many of our idle young men in various communities thus redirecting their energies positively and keep them away from idleness and criminality to more patriotic and productive endeavours such as security of lives and property in their communities,” he said.

    According to him, the state government should make VGN, a major stakeholder in community policing, as part of its planned arrangement for community policing which is VGN’s core area of operation.

    This, he said, is because VGN operatives are already on ground in the 20 local government areas and the 37 local council development areas, carrying out the duties and functions of community policing and assisting the police in checking crimes and criminality as well as apprehending criminals in various communities across the state.

    The security expert said: “The Lagos State Command of the Vigilance Group of Nigeria has about 100 men, well-trained and equipped, in each of the 20 local government areas and 37 local council development areas on community policing duties. With the total strength of 5,700 officers across several communities, we are better positioned to deliver community policing as a strategic means of curbing crimes.”

    He further revealed that all VGN operatives are domicile, i.e. living and working in their areas of operation as provided for in the bill sponsored by VGN Commander-General, Alhaji Ali Sokoto, which has gone through the second reading and now awaiting public hearing at the National Assembly.

    “While the management of VGN, Lagos  State command is made up of various security professionals such as ex-service men in the military and police force” and a number of specialised units to carry out specialised functions such as anti-robbery squad, hunter/fishermen squad, marine unit, surveillance unit, motorised patrol unit, traffic control unit and education corps,” he said.

  • Ugwuanyi to retool Neigbourhood Watch

    Ugwuanyi to retool Neigbourhood Watch

    Community Neigbourhood Watch units in Enugu State will  soon receive security equipment that will help them combat crimes effectively in their localities.

    The state Commissioner for Human Capital Development and Poverty Reduction, Mr. Obinna Mbaeke made the disclosure while flagging-off a training workshop for Iwollo Neigbourhood watch group at Agueke-Iwollo in Ezeagu local government area of the state.

    Mbaeke noted that the state government was aware of the handicap of the Neigbourhood watches in the state and was poised to alleviating the handicaps by providing security equipment that would help them police their neigbourhood better.

    The commissioner also said that the neigbourhood watch groups have so much complimented the job of orthodox security agencies in the state that investors now struggle for presence in Enugu State.

    He noted that Iwollo Neigbourhood group was the first to undergo formal security training, adding that such training was also being packaged by the state ministry to sharpen the skill of the members of vigilante groups across the state.

    The acting president of Iwollo Town Union,Chief Lazarous Ilediagu urged members of the group who are mostly youths to avail the opportunity provided by the workshop to learn how to provide better security for the community.

    The president pleaded with the Ezeagu Divisional Police Officer to help the local vigilante members on how to be more efficient on security control.

    The state commissioner for Youths and Sports Development, Mr. Charles Ndukwe, in his remark outlined the importance of providing adequate security in the community to protect government establishments in the area, noting that since the establishment of the neigbourhood watch, crime has reduced in the area.

     

  • Nigerians to watch Flying Eagles, Falcons live

    Nigerians to watch Flying Eagles, Falcons live

    Football loving Nigerians should be all smiles as the Nigeria Television Authority (NTA) in partnership with StarTimes has concluded plans to televise live this year’s  FIFA U- 20 World Cup and Women’s World Cup by giving free access to local television stations in the country to air terrestrial transmission.

    The Managing Director, Nigeria Television Authority (NTA) Enterprises Maxwell Loko, disclosed this to the media yesterday at the Media Hall of the Abuja National Stadium.

    “We are not motivated by profit because the time is short, we are motivated to serve Nigerians because of their passion for the game”, Loko disclosed while explaining the reason for getting the rights and making it free to the viewing publics.

    Also  speaking, the Executive Producer Sports Inventories, Star Time, Bayo Adebiyi explained that “We are giving the rights to the various (television) stations free of charge and an opportunity and window to make their money.  We belief we should develop a very good relationship with the various TV channels. That is our intention.

    “Also we want to build in Star-Time, sports brand and for the first time we are going to develop local studios where we will invite a lot of sports journalists and analysts to be on that platform. We are going to do so from now on, on all the inventories because we want to develop our own sports channels”, he explained.

    The Executive Secretary of the Broadcasting Corporation of Nigeria (BON) Segun Olaleye also corroborated the free to air terrestrial license given to BON which according to him will afford millions of Nigerians to watch all the U- 20 World Cup and Women’s World Cup matches live as well as re-watch through repeat transmissions.

  • Hussein: Kogi’ll prosper under my watch

    Hussein: Kogi’ll prosper under my watch

    Idris Kashim Hussein is a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and a governorship aspirant in Kogi State. In this interview with reporters in Abuja, the 43-year old politician appeals to the elders to give the younger generation a chance to contribute their quota to the development of the state.

    Why do you want to be the governor of Kogi State?

    I have been in business for some time now, basically real estate. I am a property developer; I am one of the front liners when it comes to real estate business in Abuja. I do partial business in entertainment and I run a couple of outfits when it comes to hospitality business. By aspiring to govern Kogi, I am trying to see how I can improve the lot of my people in my own little way. In my business, I have tried to bring together like minds, brilliant minds from among those I related with on the streets; the downtrodden; people who had no shoes (apologies to President Goodluck Jonathan); people that have no godfathers, into my business. My general manager and all my managers are people that I know right from time. Besides, most people working for me are people from Kogi State. What I am today, 70 per cent of the glory goes to Senator Atai Aidoko (Kogi East). He has been able to impact on my life positively. He taught me how to fish and today I am doing pretty well to the glory of God. I have passion for offering support to other people to raise their God-given potentials. For sometimes now, this is what I have been doing as an individual.

    How do you intend to bring your experience to bear on governance, if given the opportunity?

    Part of what I want to do is to make sure that we put Kogi State where it is supposed to be. I promised that I can grow the state’s internally generated revenue (IGR) of Kogi State to nothing less than N3 billion monthly. I have come up with the programmes and plans on to how we can achieve that. From the streets, as an orphan, I have been able to be what I am; I have been able to create wealth out of nothing. Now, I have been able to do samplings, I have been able to look at issues critically and objectively, about what we need to do to improve the lot of our people. First of all, I am not too okay with what is going on in Obajana (Dangote Cement factory). I believe Obajana is strategic to the economic well being of Kogi State. Unfortunately, we have not made good use of that place. Recently, President Jonathan signed the papers that proclaimed part of Enugu as a development authority; a free trade zone. We can get that done in Obajana. I remember sometimes ago, at my youthful age, I did a paper with the direct involvement of General David Jemibewon and Yomi Awoniyi, the present deputy governor, proposing a law to make Obajana a development authority. Unfortunately, former Governor Ibrahim Idris saw it as a non-issue; it was not deliberated upon in the House of Assembly and was thrown away. If I come into power, it will be part of my priorities. Plus, minus, that place, Obajana can at least generate N500m revenue for us on monthly basis.

    Secondly, Nigerians from nothing less than 21 states traverse Kogi State on daily basis. That gives you nothing less than 35,000 to 40,000 vehicles that pass through Kogi on daily basis. How can we translate that into wealth? We can create conducive atmosphere for them, when passing through Kogi. We can then offer small services to provide a comfortable atmosphere for them. We can now start generating little funds from those vehicles. It can give us nothing less than N250m monthly, if it is well packaged. I have equally looked at the possibility of establishing the Kogi Petroleum Company. Almost every filling station in the North gets their products from the South. Kogi State is strategically located at the confluence of Nigeria where the South and the North met. I did my analysis, went to the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) to do some research. What we need to do is not far-fetched: We have a river bank here in Lokoja, across the river in Shintaku. Nothing is happening there. What they take from the North to the South everyday is not less than N300m. What you do; build a tank farm, bring in investors to fund the project, with that the N300m don’t need to go to the South anymore. We would then be able to save them costs in transportation. We will also be able to save them costs in the risks involved. We will be able to make 20 per cent; 20 per cent of N9bn is about N1.8bn on IGR.

    As a state government, we should be able to generate revenue internally, rather than sitting idle and waiting for allocation from the federation account. I am trying to justify my projection that we can generate N3bn monthly.

    Thirdly, today the world is information technology (IT) driven. It is because of IT that I can sit down here in Lokoja and be talking to someone in London. Today, one of the poorest countries in the world has the best in IT, which is India. Nigerian universities teach the theoretical aspects and not the practical. And that is why when a computer scientist finish from a university in Nigeria they will say go and learn the practical aspect of IT because they don’t have the technical knowhow to run an IT firm. What to do? We have the land everywhere in Kogi, go to NUC, tell them this is what I have on ground, you get approval to establish a IT-based university basically for practical aspects in Kogi, so that undergraduates in other universities after studying the theory aspects up to 300 levels when they get to 400 levels they come to Kogi to do their practical. For Kogi indigenes, we give them 50 per cent rebate. What this will achieve is to generate revenue and help in building capacity. In the next 10 years, every IT firm you go in Nigeria you will see there is one Kogi person there.

    I am not coming into government to wait for what is coming from the Federal Government. I believe it is a good omen that the country is broke at the moment. This will give us the opportunity de-emphasize our over reliance on oil revenue. It will compel every state to begin to look inwards. In Kogi, we have the highest mineral deposits which have not been tapped. The only exception is the limestone deposits around Obajana. We are facing the challenges we face today because we are not an exporting country. As a result of this, the value of our naira keeps going down. If we were exporting cocoa, for instance, we can tell anybody who is coming to buy our product to pay us in naira. We would insist that we are not accepting payments dollars or pounds. This will help to increase the value of our own currency and that is the kind of government we want to run.

    A government that can create wealth, a government that can increase the value of what we have, the government that can develop capacity, the government that will build infrastructure, the government that can look inwards and say, this is what we need to do and put it in black and white; that holds meaningful town hall meetings with the people at intervals to sit down with them and say look at what we have done over the last one month, tell us where we have not done well enough, so we may improve; a government that is accountable, subjects itself to the will of the people; a governor that will say at the point of taking over governance this is what I have, I don’t want to have much more than this because what I want is to make sure that I give meaningful life to our people, which is possible.

    Prince Abubakar Audu recently declared his intention to come back as Kogi State Governor on the APC ticket. Are you out to challenge him?

    Basically, I will like to put a square peg in a square hole. There is no doubting that during the tenure of Prince Audu he did tremendously well. If I say he did not perform, I would not be fair to posterity. He did a wonderful job. He is innovative and he is a man that I respect as an individual. I basically see him as my role model. I think during his first tenure that was truncated by the military I was in primary school. I look at it that there are situations that over a reasonable number of years a new trend will take over from what was in the past. 25 years gone. I look forward to a time Prince Audu would say “oh, Idris, is my son I have every need to support him because he has come of age, he has the courage, he has the charisma, he has done pretty well for himself and he can help develop the state as well”. I look forward to that happening within the shortest period of time. Today, it is becoming so glaring that people are now beginning to appreciate that their vote counts. At the appropriate time they will choose who they want. If they say, “oh, Idris, sit down, there is every need for you to support Prince Audu”, to God be the glory, I will. But, if otherwise the man being a father figure will see me as his son and say Idris deserves my support, because he is a young man who has supported me in the past when I was contesting, so be it. I see him as a father figure. I am not coming to challenge Prince Abubakar Audu. I am coming to answer the clarion call by my people to run for the governorship election; I am coming to answer the call by my own generation wanting a change of baton from the old order to a new order. I think my generation has spoken. Part of the campaign you have seen, you are never going to see anybody that is old in the race. What we are saying is give us a chance. Let’s be able to prove our worth. About 35 years ago or thereabout they keep telling us we are leaders of tomorrow, and today at 40 years plus, I am married with children and I am still not a leader, then I just wonder when I will now become a leader of tomorrow! I look forward to the possibility of him saying Idris come and continue from where I stopped. I think I am going to make him very proud. He would be doing what is right giving us a space in the new system, the new order that will allow us to give our own contributions, giving us a space to hear the voice and share the feeling and aspirations of our people that all is not well with Kogi and the freedom to say our state must be better off for it.

  • Apple’s smart watch excites c

    Apple’s smart watch excites c

    Apple’s forthcoming smart-watch has a major advantage: It will provide at first glimpse how businesses can serve up ads on the watch.

    But business owners will have to wait for it for a while as it will not be available until later in the year.

    However, the same qualities that render the watch exciting to Madison Avenue, such as the ability to detect customers approaching a store and to zap an ad directly to their wrists, also risk alienating those customers.

    The United States’ mobile-marketing firm, TapSense, has planned to unveil the watch at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas.

    Apple declined to comment on the use of its watch by advertisers, and will not attend the show. But many companies that make devices and services around Apple products will be there, including those working with WatchKit, a software-development tool Apple released in November, which allows developers to build watch-tailored applications.

    With that tool, developers are devising Apple Watch ad formats, including interactive wallpapers, on the watch dial with brand logos and personalised clock faces, according to TapSense’s Chief Executive, Ash Kumar.

    His product helps developers to insert ads, bought and sold in those apps.

    The watch’s main screen allows the display of several tiny icons, including those for email, weather, time, and a few favourite service and retail apps.

    Businesses could use those apps to notify customers of special deals, but only within already-opened apps, Kumar said.

    Otherwise, the vendor risks annoying consumers by introducing an ad that is out of sync with whatever they are doing.

    If a consumer is using a transit app on the watch to monitor delays, for example, an advertiser could insert a marketing offer that would light up on the watch face for a ride-sharing service or a deal at a coffee shop nearby, Kumar said.

    But moderation is key. Push notifications and banner ads on smartphones can be turn-offs. Some marketers advise avoiding showing ads to users, who click out of them or delivering the same ad too many times to any one user.

    “If it feels like your smartwatch is turning into a spam box, you will take it off,” said Padden Guy Murphy, who heads business development and public policy at car-sharing service, Getaround.

    The startup is exploring, using Apple Watch’s location-based features to target new customers. Apple has not added global positioning on the Apple Watch, but apps can track location as the device is tethered to a smartphone.

    If a consumer shows interest in an ad, such as raising the wrist for a better look, WatchKit allows for notifications that expand and take up more room on the screen. Conversely, a disinterested consumer could tap an “X” mark to exit the ad, Kumar said.

    Communicating through buzzing or vibrations is only available on Apple’s own apps on its wearable device.

    Whether Apple scores a hit with its upcoming Apple Watch and creates a new mass-market category remains unclear. Venture capitalist, Fred Wilson, caused a stir last week by predicting that the watch “will not be the home run product that iPod, iPhone, and iPad have been.”

    But advertisers see potential. They, particularly, like a watch feature that Apple calls “Force Push” that activates when a user taps the screen with extra pressure, opening up a menu with up to four actions. They envision coupons that when tapped can show directions to a store, for example.

    Ad executives hope that the watch can overcome challenges that have prevented location-based ads from succeeding on mobile phones. Unlike on phones, users will not need to dig into a bag or pocket to see the ad. They will be right on a user’s wrist, in sight at all times, said Jeff Malmad, North American mobile director at media agency Mindshare.

    But to keep them effective, he added, consumers will need to opt for them, much as many consumers opt to receive email messages from various retailers.

  • Talents to watch in 2015

    Talents to watch in 2015

    At last, the world has said goodbye to 2014. But just like in every sphere of life, the music industry has thrown up amazing talents last year. The works by some of these singers, we believe will continue to rule the air waves in 2015.

    PATORANKING: This dance hall artiste is perhaps the biggest prospect witnessed in the Nigerian music sphere in 2014, when he recorded and released his single, Alubarika ft Timaya.

    The success of Alubarika was soon followed by another smash hit single, Girlie o, which later featured Tiwa Savage in the remix. Patoranking soon found his way to music lovers’ hearts, both home and abroad, as they kept demanding for more. Interestingly, he gave a double response to their yearnings with Early Momo and Happy Day. With a unique voice that brings life to any reggae dance hall beat, he jumps on, couple with his uncanny ability to ink lyrics that cut across demographics, as well as the multiple collaborations he has had the previous year.  2015 will surely give this young star a listening ear.

    YEMI ALADE

    In showbiz, it is said that sex sells, and if this is so, then Yemi Alade has no fear to aim high in 2015.

    A look at the songstress on stage, one will clearly see a sexy vocalist, dancer and an all-round entertainer who blossomed in 2014 and who is ready to take her game to the next level.

    For years, after emerging winner at Peak Talent hunt, Yemi struggled to find her rhythm until she found a blend of high life and Makosa with which she delivered  intoxicating tracks such as Johnnie and kissing, produced by Sele Bobo.

    With her reported hard work, captivating voice, her breathtaking dance steps, the singer may be one of the queens that will rule Nigerian music in 2015

    CYNTHIA MORGAN

    There seems to be a direct connection between Cythia’s change of skin complexion and her fortunes in the music industry. Before travelling to the United States, the dark-skinned singer did burst into the music scene, featuring in Jhybo’s Run their mouth, upon her return from the U.S., Cynthia wasted no time in making a statement with the release of Break my heart, and soon followed it up with the release of Am Taken. Signed to North Side Records, a label owned by P-Square’s elder brother and manager, Jude Okoye, Cynthia, it appears, will not lack the necessary muscle to race up the ladder in the music scene in 2015, giving her great understanding of reggae dance hall and her flexibility of singing and rapping effortlessly.

    HARRYSONG SONG

    Success for Five Star Music act, Harrysong, looks as certain as the rising of the morning sun, giving his talents as a music producer, multi  instrumentalist and vocalist.

    For years, Harrysong looked the under achiever in the Nigerian music industry but that tagged soon changed when he wrote the ground-breaking hit single Limpopo for KC.  Harrysong further enhanced his status as an authentic talent when he recorded the hit caller tune-Mandela for telecommunications company, MTN, as tribute to the late South African leader, Nelson Mandela.

    The successes of the aforementioned coupled with the release of Better Pikin and Kolombo   are likely to impact Harrysong musical fortunes in 2015.

    ORITSE FEMI

    Going by the popular saying that ‘everything has got its time and season’, Oritse Femi’s journey into music has been filled with twists and turns. He has always been a constant figure in the scene, but his songs have always been minor hits up until the period he released Better for every man, a song that touched  the core of human existence and hence the popularity of the track. He soon followed that up with Fela Anikulapo’s inspired track Double Wahala. After this, the story changed for the better for the artiste who soon began rocking music stages across the world.

    The confidence he has drawn from his recent success will definitely serve as a spring board for Oritse Femi to do bigger things next year.

  • 2015 presidency: Three parties under watch, says Okorie

    2015 presidency: Three parties under watch, says Okorie

    UPP zones seat to Southeast

    The National Chairman of the United Progressives Party (UPP), Chief Chekwas Okorie, said yesterday that next year’s presidential election would be fought among three parties.

    He said the parties are the All Progressives Congress (APC), the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the UPP.

    Okorie spoke at the UPP secretariat in Awka, the Anambra State capital, at the inauguration of the Working Committee of the party.

    Dr. Sylvester Igwilo was sworn in as the chairman, while Pat Achukwu became the deputy chairman. Dave Ogwuno is the secretary, among others.

    Addressing members, Okorie said the battle line had been drawn between UPP, which he said was the party of the progressives and others.

    He said it was going to be a battle between the progressives and the reactionaries, adding that UPP zoned its presidential ticket to the Southeast.

    The former National Chairman of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) said the UPP national executives would storm Anambra State to start a battle.

    He said: “UPP is targeting the presidency. President Goodluck Jonathan is performing, but a UPP president will do better. Let nobody think we are joking.

    “There have been countries where a party with the popular manifesto, popular candidate won the presidency without controlling the National Assembly. Greece is an example.

    “As for the National Assembly, our target is to win in the Southeast to start with. We will later make inroads into other places. We are not telling you that we will win the whole country.”

    Okorie vowed that the UPP would chase out the PDP in the Southeast.

    He said the leaders of the PDP in the zone could not win their constituencies in next year’s general elections.

    The Chairman of the Working Committee, Igwilo, promised to carry members along to take the party to the promised land.

  • Governor to Obuah: watch your tongue

    Governor to Obuah: watch your tongue

    Governor Rotimi Amaechi, has declared that he remains a member of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and has no plan to defect to another party or to destabilise the PDP, as alleged by Rivers’ factional Chairman of the party, Chief Felix Obuah.

    He insisted that he had not constituted himself into an opposition to President Goodluck Jonathan or antagonising the President, as insinuated by Obuah.

    Rivers State Commissioner for Information Ibim Semenitari said: “We have made it clear where we stand. Governor Amaechi is a member of the PDP. As governor of Rivers State, the party’s constitution recognises him as the leader of the party in the state.

    “Mr Obuah is an individual, who has a right to his opinion in a democracy. The only thing is to remember that he needs to be guarded in his speaking, because his right to freedom of expression stops where the right of the other person begins and he must not, in an attempt to seek relevance, do so by fomenting trouble.

    “He has the right to his opinion, but he has to express it within the confines of decorum and appropriate behaviour.

    “Mr. Obuah must stop grandstanding, in his attempt to seek relevance. He can seek relevance through other means, not by casting aspersions on any individual. Governor Amaechi is not in opposition to Mr. President and has never been.

    “Governor Amaechi recognises the President as the leader of the PDP, the party he belongs. I do not think that Governor Amaechi, under any guise, constitutes himself into an opposition and people must remember history.

    “I hope that we do not need to remind Mr. Obuah of the position that Governor Amaechi took during the doctrine of necessity and the fact that this was a governor that was in the forefront of insisting that the then Acting President, now Mr. President, should immediately take over, to avoid a vacuum in the national interest.

    “It is Mr. Obuah that is destabilising the PDP. Was he in Nigeria when the Rivers state PDP held its congress? The person we should be accusing of destabilising the PDP is the man who did not stand for an election and he went to the court to say he did. Mr. President did not complain to Mr. Obuah. So why is he grandstanding?