Oct 1: FG Orders 53 Gold iPhones For N12.5m Each

inShare

The cash crunch presumably afflicting the federal government has not prevented it from placing an order for 53 gold iPhones to mark Nigeria’s 53rd independence anniversary.

A United Kingdom-born businessman based in Dubai, Amjad Ali, unwittingly disclosed this when he spoke to the Independent of London.

“We will engrave them with the coat of arms, a shield and two horses,” he said. The 42-year-old Ali supplies royal families, governments, and minted customers across Russia, China and the Middle East with gold-plated devices that cost from £3,000 to £50,000 (about N780, 000 to N12.5m).

“We strip the units down and then plate them in copper, nickel and then pure gold,” he told the Independent. “We have limited units per region and each is numbered and placed in a handmade wooden box with a certificate of authenticity and wax seal.”

Ali typically delivers 50 devices a month, including Blackberries and iPads, but orders rose to more than 300 a month when the iPhone 5 was launched last year. He expects greater demand as the sixth-generation device was announced yesterday.

 The federal government has refused to meet the financial demands of striking university lecturers, claiming that meeting such demands would leave the government broke.

Minister of Information Mr Labaran Maku had said that activities of the federal government would be grounded if all the demands of members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities were met.

Nigeria gained political independence from Britain on October 1, 1960, and has since marked the date with fanfare.

Reports of dwindling foreign reserves have been denied by the federal government. Nigeria is facing financial difficulties as crude oil theft and endemic corruption continue to bore huge holes in the nation’s coffers.

But the federal government has maintained silence over report that it plans to import 23 iPhones for the independence anniversary billed to take place on the first of next month.

Effort to reach Special Adviser to the president on media and publicity, Dr. Reuben Abati last night was futile as he could not be reached on phone.

New PDP Opens Office In Port Harcourt

inShare

The Alhaji Abubakar Kawu Baraje-led Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on Thursday opened its secretariat in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital.

The new state secretariat is located along Forces Avenue, in Old GRA of the state capital.

You Won't Believe These Shocking Sex Traditions

Sexual intercourse can be regarded as one of the most curious part of life.

While some people attach spirituality to the act, others have some very interesting rules for when and how to have sex.

Check out some of the most shocking sexual practices around the world:

1. Adolescents allowed to have sex

In Polynesia, adolescents of are instructed in sexual techniques by an older experienced person, and during this period, it is permissible to have numerous sexual liaisons before settling down. Special "pleasure houses" are built to provide young people with their own place to socialize and have intercourse.

2. Premarital sex allowed after parents approval

The inhabitants of Tonga (South Pacific) allow premarital intercourse with permission of the girl's parents and the provision that conception won't occur. If pregnancy occurs, the offending couple must walk around the village naked for several days and apply a magic potion to the fence surrounding the community to prevent disease from infecting people.

3. Six-year-old girls allowed to have sex

In Trobrianders tribe, Papua New Guinea, girls begin to have sex at the age of 6-8 and boys at the age of 10-12. However, having a meal together before marriage is forbidden.

4. Widow inheritance

When a family man dies in the Lou community, in Kenya, there is something called a widow inheritance. This is when a widow must sleep with another man to cleanse the death of her husband and bring ritual renewal and regeneration.

5. Intimate cutting rituals to achieve manhood

The first portion of this Mardudjara Aboriginal rite in Australia, involves a barbaric circumcision. After he heals up, the male's sex organ is cut lengthwise on the underside. Blood is then dripped over a fire in order to purify it.

6. Unnatural sex abstinence in Romania

Decent and upright women in Romania do not perform unnatural sex other than the classic missionary positions. Even if they wanted to, their lovers probably wouldn’t let them as it is believed it is something that only prostitutes do.

7. Boys to stay away from girls for 10 years:

To become a man, boys from Sambia tribe in New Guinea are removed from all the females at the age of seven for 10 years. Among other traditions, they are required to ingest the semen of their elders.

8. Temporary Marriage:

In certain Muslim countries, a young couple who would like to have sex before they’re ready to marry can request a “temporary marriage”. They are allowed to pay for a short ceremony, with a written contract.

9. Egypt strange sexual practices:

The ancient Egyptians were so inspired by the act of self-stimulation that at the festival of the god Min, who represented Pharaoh's sexual potency, men seeking pleasure in public.

10. Polyandrous Society;

In Nepal, When families have more than one son, they simply marry all of their sons to one wife.

11. Pon:

In Indonesia, they celebrate a holiday called Pon. To receive such blessings, participants must spend the night with someone other than their husband or wife.

12: Sex Haven

In Cambodia, the Kreung people encourage the sexual independence of their daughters by building separate huts for them to sleep in.

13. Sex with donkey:

In Northern Colombia, it is common practice for adolescent boys to have sex with donkeys. It is like a rite of passage that a boy has to pass to become a man.

14. Paid to break virginity:

In Guam, there's a full time job for a man to break the woman's virginity, and they've paid to do that, because in guam law's a virgin woman isn't allowed to get married.

15. Making love to animals:

In Lebanon, people are allowed to make love with a female animal, if one is caught having sex with a male animal, he will be punished to death.

Which one do you consider the craziest? Do you know any more weird sexual practices that is not listed above. Share your views in the comments section below.

• 
  

Where Are Confiscated Assets?

A high court recently granted the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFFC) permission to freeze N33 billion worth of illicit assets allegedly acquired by two former Police Pension Office officials being tried for alleged pension theft. Larger assets have been seized from a bank boss, Mrs Cecilia Ibru: she forfeited hundreds of property across the world worth N191 billion to the EFCC, following her six-month conviction in October 2010. Former Edo State governor Lucky Igbinedion also surrendered property and funds worth billions of naira to the commission after he was convicted in 2011 for stealing state funds as governor. And, early this year, self-confessed police pension thief Yakubu Yusuf gave up 32 prime property to the government.

The pertinent question now is: what has happened to these and other assets forfeited to the government by suspects successfully prosecuted by anti-corruption agencies like the EFCC and the ICPC? While the media report on certain property forfeitures as announced by the EFCC via its official statements, the anti-graft agency has not given commensurate publicity to how it has been treating the forfeited assets. Many Nigerians believe that the seized property are simply being “re-looted” by those in the anti-graft system, their masters and cronies in a vicious circle that leaves the country worse off.

While no case of actual “re-looting” of seized assets has come to light thus far, the climate of doubt that has apparently descended on this all-important national issue needs to be dispelled immediately. Transparency in the process of selling all confiscated property and funds by anti-corruption agencies should be a logical end to the widespread media coverage received by the trial and conviction of economic criminals; it is sine qua non to the success of the country’s anti-corruption campaign.

 In the light of the foregoing, we demand that all anti-corruption agencies make full disclosures of all assets forfeited to the government through them on their official websites and in the print and electronic media without further delay. The disclosure should be explicit enough and include the revenue, if any, that these forfeited assets have generated for the country since they arrived in government custody. If any of these seized assets has been sold, we demand that the anti-graft agency involved indicate how much it was sold and to whom. This will dispel the widespread belief that the convicted former owners went behind to buy back these confiscated property using proxies. The transparent treatment of all tangible property as demanded here should also extend to frozen bank accounts and the funds therein.

The anti-graft campaign is losing traction. No amount of chest-beating by the agencies would convince citizens about their sincerity of purpose. An honest public rendition of their accounts is the breath of life the anti-corruption war needs now. 

LUXURY: 2014 Range Rover Hybrid Unveiled (PHOTO)

Land Rovers are rightly lauded for their ability to claw their way past almost any obstacle. The brand which has made huge strides in the area of efficiency, is at it again - with its hybrid-electric versions of the Range Rover and Range Rover Sport.

The goal of the new hybrid-electric powertrain, consisting of a 3-litre turbodiesel V6 engine and a 35kW electric motor, is to match the performance of the company’s 4.4-litre V8 diesel engine, but with improved efficiency. Because electric motors excel at the low engine speeds when diesels can be coarse – and because they eliminate idling entirely – a diesel hybrid diesel is more refined.

Total power for the combined internal-combustion engine and electric motor is an impressive 340 horsepower and a Bentley-like 516lb-ft. of torque. The hybrid can travel as far as a mile on electric power at speeds up to 30mph before switching to the diesel, which is perfect for creeping silently up to, and away from, the valet on Rodeo Drive, among other common Range Rover duties.

Land Rover says that the hybrid accelerates to 62mph in under  seven seconds, reaching a top speed of 135mph for the Range Rover and 140mph for the Sport. Unlike many hybrids, seating and storage are uncompromised in either vehicle.

• 
  

PDP CRISIS...JONATHAN, GOVS IN LAST-DITCH TALKS

PDP CRISIS...JONATHAN, GOVS IN LAST-DITCH TALKS

• 
• 

Former President Ibrahim Babangida

.IBB, Ali present elders position to president

President Goodluck Jonathan, eight state governors and other party leaders went into a crisis meeting late yesterday, in a last-ditch effort to resolve the dispute that caused the break of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP).
The discussions, which may spill into the early morning hours, were being held to consider the outcome of mediation efforts of an elders committee, led by former President Olusegun Obasanjo, sources involved in the matter told Daily Trust last night.
The meeting, held at the conference room of the First Lady’s Office at the State House inin Abuja, was attended by four of the seven aggrieved PDP governors, namely Mu’azu Babangida Aliyu (Niger), Sule Lamido (Jigawa), Aliyu Wamakko (Sokoto) and Murtala Nyako (Adamawa).
Also in attendance were Liyel Imoke (Cross River), Ibrahim Dankwambo (Gombe), Emmanuel Uduaghan (Delta) and Gabriel Suswam (Benue), who are in the Bamanga Tukur-led faction of the ruling party. Three of the Abubakar Baraje faction’s governors who did not attend last night’s talks were Rabiu Kwankwaso (Kano), who was abroad yesterday, Rotimi Amaechi (Rivers) and Abdulfatah Ahmed (Kwara).
Security officers barred journalists from getting near the venue of the discussions, saying the event was not meant for media coverage. The meeting was still on by 11.30pm.
Earlier in the day, Jonathan held a separate meeting with two members of the elders’ team—former President Ibrahim Babangida and former PDP national chairman Ahmadu Ali.
The one-hour meeting began at 1pm, and Daily Trust learnt that it was meant for the elders’ representatives to brief the president on the outcome of their reconciliation efforts.
Obasanjo was away in Belgium yesterday, and it was not known if he would have attended the meeting had he been around.
Jonathan’s meeting with the governors last night was a follow up to the first one held last week Sunday, which ended at about 2am the following morning. At the end of it, board of trustees chairman Tony Anenih announced that discussions were “smooth” and would continue yesterday. Anenih was not at last night’s talks, an aide told Daily Trust.
But since the first meeting, the two sides in the PDP dispute have taken measures and made pronouncements that indicated they had dug in their heels.
Last Tuesday, PDP national chairman Bamanga Tukur threatened governors and lawmakers in the ‘New PDP’ with loss of their seats and prosecution.
For their part, the defectors filed two court cases seeking Tukur’s ouster, set up a new national secretariat in Abuja on Friday, and named a national working committee on Monday.
Meantime, the elders committee held hours-long discussions with leaders of both factions on Friday, but no headway was announced at the end.
On Saturday, the police sealed off the factional national secretariat, relying on a court order that asked the two PDP sides to maintain the status quo.
Reports since then said the Obasanjo elders committee was divided on the position to take regarding the contentious issues, particularly the alleged demand by the Abubakar Baraje faction that President Jonathan renounced his second term aspiration.
Other conditions set out by the ‘New PDP’ for return to the mainstream include the sack of Tukur, as well as recognition of Amaechi as chairman of the Nigeria Governors Forum and lifting of his suspension from the party.
Meanwhile, in Adamawa State, the PDP crisis continued to fester as factional chairman Chief Joel Madaki, who is loyal to Tukur, said yesterday the defectors had misconstrued Jonathan’s democratic disposition as weakness.
Madaki said at a news conference in Yola that the party would take appropriate action against the Baraje faction members who are from Adamawa for disrespecting the party and the president.
“Since assumption of office, President Goodluck Jonathan has shown that he is a real democrat. Some people have misconstrued him as weakling not knowing that his spirit of tolerance is a rare sign of democrat,” he said.
“Those that walked out on the president and gave him conditions would not have attempted it if it were another president other than President Jonathan.”
He described the conditions given by the ‘New PDP’ as outrageous, saying the demands were meant to frustrate all reconciliation efforts as the aggrieved governors had already decided to defect from the PDP.
“The game plan at hand now is a deliberate act to weaken the PDP before Governor Nyako and his co-travellers make a final bow out of PDP. That is the reason why they are giving unattainable and outrageous conditions,” he said. Madaki warned all elected officials in Adamawa who belong to the break-away faction to renounce and pledge loyalty to Tukur-led PDP or lose their seats.
“Registers are still open in all 226 wards for new members and those who are yet to revalidate their membership status, so that it does not become too late,” he said.

5 New Ways To Please Your Woman In The Bedroom

Just like a lot of things, great sex and how to achieve it changes often.

The sex rules of a decade ago is unlikely to work now.

Check out a few outdated sex tips below and how you can be a better lover.

OLD RULE: If She Likes It, Keep Doing It

NEW RULE: Never Stop Experimenting
Her body's sensitivity changes as her arousal level rises. Experiment and retrace your steps, so that instead of becoming fixated on one point, you visit a series of sensitive points regularly. Set up simple codes she can use: "up" or "down" for where to move your hand, for example. Or ask her, "How's this feel, one to 10?" then vary the pressure.

OLD RULE: Fantasy is for the Lonely

NEW RULE: She Needs the Distraction
During sex, men focus on the oncoming climax. Women's minds wander, often into fantasy. To reach orgasm, she needs to clear her head and turn off her brain's fear center. Fantasy is a way for her to disconnect her mind, and it becomes an important part of deactivating her fear center. Encourage her release by constructing an erotic fantasy before things heat up. Then, you can whisper provocative sentences to each other in turn, building a story she can get lost in.

OLD RULE: Control the Pace

NEW RULE: Let Her Take Over
In almost every culture's history, the man takes the lead in sex. But that's a patriarchal hang-up. Let her control the pace and intensity (either initially or totally, depending on the mood), so that you both know what's best for her. The more fun she has, the better for you. Encourage her to be on top: It allows her to take advantage of a full range of positions—facing you, facing away, even sitting cross-legged on you.

OLD RULE: Erotic Spots are Predictable

NEW RULE: Different Touches Bring Different Results
Her clitoris, vagina, and urethra are interconnected, and researchers believe that stimulating any one of them may contribute to overall arousal. Branch out and tease what some call the U-spot—an area between her clitoris and vagina, located near the entrance to her urethra. Use soft, circular motions with your finger. Urethral nerves are very sensitive, so stimulation here creates a particular kind of arousal—a soft, melting form of climax. Make sure your hands are clean, though—the area is infection-prone.

OLD RULE: Speed Thrills

NEW RULE: Slow Down
Pulling back when she's near climax and then resuming can enhance her orgasm. Suspense raises the psychological arousal level. Ask her to tell you when she's near the top, and then pull back for a few minutes to kiss and concentrate on other parts of her body. Repeat several times—build up, back off—until you take her over the edge. Don't fear ruining a moment. It takes 5 to 10 minutes for arousal to really subside, so even if she thinks she's "lost it," you're probably equipped to bring her back.