The 'Akpako Master' Terry G Says Having A Child Has Changed Him

Terry G spoke about how his little son has made him change;

“Having a kid has a lot to do with my change of character. Sometimes you see life in a different way. You perceive it in another way another time. When I had a kid, I saw so much value in my life and the future. I became humbled and developed the mindset that anything that has to do with my future must automatically involve my son as well. I started changing a lot of things and it actually scared a lot of negative friends from me. It helped me resolve and re-organise myself again. In the past,  some children appeared scared to come close to me, but all that has changed. Fatherhood has been awesome, amazing and a miracle to me. My son is my replica.”

Ex-chocolate City Member Jesse Jagz Shows Support To Brymo

  

 

Ex-chocolate city member Jesse Jagz expressed his thought on the current issue 

between his former record label and Brymo

[PHOTOS]: See The Traditional Priest Some Pastors And Imams Consult

 

Prominent ifa priest, Chief Ifayemi Elebuibon in this interview shares his experiences as a traditional priest

How long did you spend to learn Ifa?

I started learning from my father at the age of four. My father later gave me out to another priest who taught me. I stayed there for 10 years and six months. After that, I started learning from my father’s colleagues at different locations. I moved from Ilobu to Ede, Ibadan and Oyo to add to my knowledge of Ifa. Ifa knowledge is extended, so you continue to learn until you are dead.

 

Apart from Nigerians, do you have foreigners consulting Ifa through you?

As I said earlier, some of those who consult me are based abroad. They make telephone calls almost everyday. They send e-mails to me asking me to consult for them and to prepare sacrifices and to do other things for them. I have a lot of clients abroad.

Can you recollect any occasion when you were saved by Ifa?

There was a year I was invited to the University of Ibadan for a programme. On the day of the programme, I was set to go and I consulted Ifa to know how the outing would turn out but it was negative. I asked Ifa, “should I not go for the programme? And it said, no don’t go.” So, I cancelled the outing and stayed back indoors. The following day, somebody came and brought a newspaper and I read how those who attended the programme were beaten and molested. I couldn’t believe it; I had to fetch the invitation card to ascertain that the programme I was invited to attend was the one disrupted. I thanked Ifa because it saved my life that day.

 

Do you think that you could one day be converted to Islam or Christianity?

That one cannot happen. I have a deep understanding of the Bible and Quran and I also have a good understanding of Ifa but I cannot renounce Ifa. Christians and Muslims scare people with hell fire but I want you to listen to my CD on who will go to hell fire. They say that you will go to hell fire if you are not a Christian or a Muslim, but I am not afraid of hell fire because I am not a wicked person. I know what you can do that will take you to hell fire and I don’t do such things. What will now pursue me to be converted to Christianity or Islam? There is no problem that Ifa cannot solve. A lot of Christians, even pastors and Imams come to consult Ifa and use Ifa to solve their problems. But because we believe in fidelity, it is forbidden for me to start mentioning their names. It is confidential just like medical doctors don’t disclose the ailments of their patients to just anybody. Pastors and imams come to me and I prepare a lot of things for them. I use my Ifa knowledge to solve their problems. So, how am I supposed to go to them? Just this afternoon, a leader of a church came here wearing a native dress, you can’t know that he is a pastor but I know.

Nollywood Actor Jide Kosoko Says "I Was Never Beaten Up"

Earlier in the week, the news about town was that veteran actor, Jide Kosoko was assaulted and beaten by video club owners. It was said that the actor who is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Video Rental Operators of Nigeria was mediating in a crisis in the association when he was assaulted and injured during a fracas.

But the actor, in a telephone chat, said he was never beaten.

Kosoko, who was reluctant to talk about the incident as it was against his principle to grant t elephone interview however said it was impossible for anybody to beat him up.

“I was never beaten up. I am a member of the board of trustees of the Video Rental Operators of Nigeria and there was a crisis in the association. I was there to mediate and find way to resolve the crisis. While that was happening, there was a fracas with the video club owners as they began fighting one another. Someone threw a plastic bottled water and it hit me in the eye. That was it,” he said.

Confirming what her father said, Sola Kosoko said it was impossible for anybody to beat her father up.

Sola said she heard about the story on the radio and wondered how they came up with such story.

She said, “I heard about the news on radio but how could anyone have beaten up my father? It is not possible.”

PHCN Workers To Begin Strike On The 2nd Of October

The already deplorable power situation in the country may worsen as employees of Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) have threatened to stop the supply of electricity across the country by October 2 if the federal government goes ahead to handover the assets of the company to private investors today without the conclusion of payment of workers entitlements.
The industrial action follows the expiration of the ultimatum issued by the workers to government to resolve all labour issues ahead of the privatisation of PHCN.
In preparation for the industrial action, the workers will today hold a nationwide protest to alert Nigerians of impending shutdown of the power sector on Wednesday.
Speaking under the umbrella of National Union of Electricity Employees (NUEE), the union directed its members to withdraw their services from all PHCN installations immediately after the celebration of the nation’s 53 Independence anniversary.
The union, in a statement issued by its secretary, Joe Ajaero, said the industrial action became necessary in view of government refusal to resolve the outstanding labour issues with the workers.
The union said it was particularly disturbed by the statement credited to the Chairman of National Council on Privatisation (NCP), Vice-President Namadi Sambo that government had settled all the labour issues which had impeded the smooth take off of the privatisation programme and the handover to private investors.
The union insisted that the vice-president was either being misled or deliberately keen on emasculating the PHCN workers with a view to further impoverishing them.
It challenged the Office of the Vice-President “to mention any person from his constituency – Kaduna State where he served as governor, who has been paid his entitlement, pension and gratuity.”
The union further alleged governments deployment of military personnel to all PHCN facilities stating that the aim was to ostensibly to allow a forceful takeover of the installations without conclusively settling the labour issues.
It noted that the policy of deploying soldiers to PHCN installations to intimidate workers was “definitely misguided and misdirected as they are directed to creating more tension to already tensed polity.”
The statement read: “For clarity, please note that these issues are outstanding: payments of terminal benefits: payment of the terminal benefits is yet to rise up to 50 per cent for the eligible workers. Non-payment of retirement savings fund to Pension Fund Administrators (PFAs): Up till this moment no efforts has been made to commence payment. The PFAs can attest to this fact. Non-remittance of 2 per cent of the union deductions as agreed: No word has been heard from the BPE/government on remittance of this two person neither has the deductions already made from the paid workers remitted to the unions.”
“Non-payment of retirees who disengaged since 2011: It is absurd and sordid for government not to think of settling these people who laboured over the years in service of this country and get retired meritoriously, while the privatisation exercise was on. Non-regularisation of some of the casuals already identified: With the biometrics done and concluded, it becomes worrisome on the continued delay in regularising the casuals who had been identified based on agreements already entered into. 10 per cent equity shareholding by the workers: In line with the relevant laws, the workers are entitled to 10 per cent Equity Share of the total sale of PHCN. But it appears the government is bent on short changing the workers.”
“The shortfall of terminal benefits from June 2012 till date has not been considered for payment.
“These contending issues cannot be jettisoned by the workers to allow any force to takeover! It behooves us therefore to advise the vice-president and those misguiding him not to toy with the socio-economic lives of PHCN workers, their families and other Nigerians who depend on them for their livelihood. We are set to take our destiny in our hands.
“Because of Independence Day ceremonies, we would be patient to allow for full celebrations.
“However, we hereby urge Nigerians to bear with us if after October 2, the government goes ahead with her illicit handover to the investors and forceful takeover; the implication would be that the workers have technically been asked to withdraw their services and we may not be able to guarantee smooth operations.
Consequently, if after October 2, the Office of the Vice-President fails to correct this misleading information, we shall not guarantee supply of electricity in the country. This is not a threat as our earlier ultimatum has expired.”

Apple Overtakes Cocacola As The Worlds Number One Most Valuable Brand

For thirteen years, Cocacola was the world's number one most valuable brand...but not anymore. In 2013, two brands took over - Apple and Google, leaving Cocacola at number three.

From New York Times

Apple is the new most valuable brand in the world, according to a closely followed annual report. The report, to be released next Monday, is from Interbrand, a corporate identity and brand consulting company owned by the Omnicom Group that has been compiling what it calls the Best Global Brands report since 2000. The previous No. 1 brand, Coca-Cola, fell to No. 3.

Not only has Apple replaced Coca-Cola as first among the 100 most valuable brands based on criteria that include financial performance, this is the first time that the soft drink known for slogans like “It’s the real thing” has not been No. 1.

 

Apple’s arrival in the top spot was perhaps “a matter of time,” Jez Frampton, global chief executive at Interbrand, said in a recent interview. Apple was No. 2 last year, climbing from No. 8 in the 2011 report.

 

“What is it they say, ‘Long live the king’?” Mr. Frampton asked. “This year, the king is Apple.”

 

The 2013 report begins: “Every so often, a company changes our lives, not just with its products, but with its ethos. This is why, following Coca-Cola’s 13-year run at the top of Best Global Brands, Interbrand has a new No. 1 — Apple.”

 

The report estimates the value of the Apple brand at $98.3 billion, up 28 percent from the 2012 report. The value of the Coca-Cola brand also rose, by 2 percent to $79.2 billion, but that was not sufficient to give Coca-Cola a 14th year as Interbrand’s most valuable brand.

 

Although “Coca-Cola is an efficient, outstanding brand marketer, no doubt about it,” Mr. Frampton said, Apple and other leading technology brands have become “very much the poster child of the marketing community.”

 

That is underscored by the brand in second place in the new report: Google, which rose from fourth place last year. In fact, of the top 10 Best Global Brands for 2013, five are in technology: Apple; Google; Microsoft, No. 5, unchanged from last year; Samsung, 8, compared with 9 last year; and Intel, 9, compared with 8 last year.

 

Samsung’s ascent followed the company’s adoption of a new brand strategy called the Brand Ideal, which includes “a greater focus on social purpose,” Sue Shim, executive vice president and chief marketing officer at Samsung, said by e-mail. That reflected research indicating American consumers would switch brands to “one that was associated with improving people’s lives,” she added.

 

I.B.M. — No. 4 in 2013, down a notch from 2012 — is ranked as a business services brand. Otherwise, technology would account for six of the top 10.

 

“Brands like Apple and Google and Samsung are changing our behavior: how we buy, how we communicate with each other, even whether we speak with each other,” Mr. Frampton said. “They have literally changed the way we live our lives.”

 

Among other transformative technology brands that performed well in the new report was Facebook, which climbed to 52 from 69 last year, its first year on the list.

 

However, not all technology brands fared well. BlackBerry, which tumbled last year to 93 from 56 in 2011, has disappeared from the list. And Nokia, which dropped to 19 from 14 in 2011, finished this year in 57th place — “the biggest faller” among the 100, Mr. Frampton said.

 

Among nontechnology brands, a notable addition to the list was Chevrolet, at 89, the first General Motors brand to rank among the Best Global Brands.

 

“It feels good to hit the list for the first time,” Alan Batey, global head of Chevrolet at G.M., said in a telephone interview. “It’s a great first step, but we’ve got a long way to go. There are a lot of big brands in front of us.”

 

The milestone reflects how General Motors has been “making a conscious effort to globalize Chevrolet,” Mr. Batey said, selling the brand in 140 countries in ads that play up attributes like “value for money and designs that move hearts and minds.”

 

Commonwealth, the creative agency for Chevrolet, “played a key role” in helping the brand make the list, he added. Commonwealth is part of the McCann Worldgroup division of the Interpublic Group of Companies.

 

Last year, when Coca-Cola finished atop the Best Global Brands list for the 13th consecutive time, an executive at the Coca-Cola Company acknowledged the streak but noted that “nothing lasts forever.”

 

A year later, the executive, Joseph V. Tripodi, executive vice president and chief marketing and commercial leadership officer, had this reaction: “Of course, we would like to remain on top of the list forever. That said, we are honored to continue to be included among such an esteemed group of global brands, and we congratulate Apple and Google, both valued partners of ours.”

 

“We’ve seen the value of technology brands rise as they create new ways for people to stay connected virtually,” Mr. Tripodi said by e-mail. “We understand this, as the lasting power of our brand is built on the social moment of sharing a Coca-Cola with friends and family.”

 

“Creating these simple moments and delivering on our brand promise each and every day remains our focus,” he added, “as we continue to grow the value of brand Coca-Cola for decades to come.”

 

If it is consolation, Coca-Cola remains far ahead of Apple and Google in likes on Facebook fan pages. Coca-Cola has 73.2 million, compared with 9.8 million for Apple and 15.1 million for google.

See What Hon. Patrick Obahiagbon Said About Jim Iykes Deliverance

Edo Statesman and grammarian Hon. Patrick Obahiagbon has shared his thought on the Jim Iyke deliverance at The Synagogue Church as he called the perfomance comedic.

See his tweets below: