Brighttell Blog

MMM stands for Mavrodi Mondial Moneybox The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has warned Nigerians against the use of MMM Federal Republic of Nigeria, a Ponzi scheme company, Punch reports. Speaking during a mentoring program for students of Government Secondary School, Suleja, the head of the consumer protection department of the CBN Kadija Kassim said the activities of the scheme is not regulated by any institution. Kassim referring to the scheme as ‘wonder bank’ cautioned Nigerians on patronizing activities of the MMM scheme which stands for Mavrodi Mondial Moneybox. Many Nigerians have been lured into MMM which functions as an online investment scheme. The scheme, through its campaign allows a monthly investment return of 30% for every investor. But Kassim said the scheme is fraudulent and is not supported by any business model. “We have heard about the activities of MMM, but I want to warn you against it because they are wonder banks that are not regulated. Desist from the...

Catholic bishops in Nigeria have reiterated their hatred and condemnation of same-sex marriage, advising President Muhammadu Buhari not to succumb to pressures coming from external governments and agencies to legalise gay marriage. Also, they have commended the Federal Government for steps taken so far in tackling corruption and terrorism in the country. The clerics, under the aegis of Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria (CBCN), condemned all acts of homosexuality, describing them as sinful and opposed to natural law. In a communique issued at the end of their second plenary meeting held at the Pastoral Centre, Igwuruta, Port Harcourt, Rivers State, they called for a true conversion of heart. According to them: “We observe with deep concern the rise of the orientation towards homosexuality and lesbianism, as well as bisexual and trans-gender activism in many parts of the world (perhaps not excluding our own). “We reiterate  condemnation of all acts of hom...

A Makurdi Magistrates’ Court on Thursday remanded a 23-year- old mechanic, Ahmed Ochegbe, in prison custody for alleged conspiracy and armed robbery. The Magistrate, Mrs Franca Yuwa, ordered the remand of the accused as requested by the Prosecutor, Insp Imo Edward, who argued that the court lacked jurisdiction to entertain the case and that investigation in the case was still ongoing. Edward told the court that the accused of Agber village in Makurdi, Benue, committed the alleged offence on Aug.15. He alleged that the complainants, Ubagu Jaochim and Josan Adikwu, reported the case of robbery at ‘B’ Division police station in Makurdi. He said the complainants reported that the accused, with another now at large, allegedly attacked them while armed with locally made pistol along Government College road, Makurdi The prosecutor alleged that the accused, at gun-point, collected the sum of N1,500 from his victims.. Edward alleged that the accused on his arrest, confess...

There was a mild drama at the premises of the Tinubu Magistrate Court in Lagos on Wednesday as a lawyer was caught fondling the breasts and private part of a 9-year-old. The 9-year-old was said to have accompanied her grandmother who had a civil case in court and needed a lawyer. While the grandmother was trying to get a lawyer who would assist her with her case, the lawyer allegedly tricked the little girl to an alley within the court premises where he carried the girl on his laps and started fondling her private part and breast after giving her his phone. The grandmother was attracted to the little girl after she was seen crying and when asked, she pointed to the lawyer, saying he fondled her breast and also touched her private part. An eyewitness while reacting to the mild drama said the lawyer was seen walking around the court premises in company of the 9-year-old telling those who sought to know that the girl was her daughter. The noise created as a result of the incident led...

Mrs. Janet Ishi of Orok Orok Street, Calabar, capital of Cross River State, is currently a worried woman. The source of her bother is her eldest daughter,vEno, whose sexual preference is less than conventional. Eno is a member of the city’s growing tribe of lesbians And they are found everywhere–civil service, army, police as well as secondary and tertiary institutions. Queen, a dark-skinned beauty, told TheNEWS that lesbians usually seek partners among teenage secondary school, polytechnic and university students. Places like Halls 8 and 9 (Winnie Mandela Hall), Female Medical Students’ Hostel and the School of Nursing Hostel–all at the University of Calabar; Cross River University of Technology female hostel, Federal Government Girls’ College hostels and female hostels in private schools are pools where lesbians go to fish. Ufot, a 19-year-old girl Law student, told this magazine that several girls approached her at the University of Calabar’s ...

Tragedy struck yesterday after a family of seven were roasted in a fire that engulfed a building at Lawanson, Surulere, Lagos. However, doctors at the Intensive Care Unit of Gbagada General Hospital are  battling to save the life of the  seventh member of the family, eight- year-old Chidinma who sustained serious burns. Among those who lost their lives in the inferno, whose cause could not be immediately ascertained, were Mr. Kelechi Ali, his wife, Nkiru, Onoja, their baby boy  of about three weeks old, their son, Favour, of about three years old. Also killed in the fire were Onoja’s mother, who was on a visit to care for her nursing daughter, and two other children, aged eight and ten years respectively, who were said to have visited for the summer holiday. The grandmother, said to be in her 60s, had reportedly concluded plans to return to her base at Nsukka , Enugu State yesterday before the unfortunate incident. The fire, it was gathered, started in Ali...

A female student of Moshood Abiola Polytechnic, Abeokuta, Ogun State, Miss Oreoluwa Adedamola, has been arrested by the men of the Ogun State Anti-Robbery Squad, for being in possession of a gun. The 20-year old lady,who claimed to be an OND 2 Mass Com student, was arrested on August 29 at Ifo, around 11.45pm, while travelling in a mini-truck with one Sikiru Kelani. She was among the suspects paraded by the Ogun State police commissioner, Abdulmajid Ali, on Tuesday at the state command headquarter, Eleweran, Abeokuta. While speaking, Miss Oreoluwa, who wept profusely, said it was Kelani that hid the gun inside her bag and she didn’t know when he did it. She said she knew Kelani, a self-confessed member of Bucaneer confraternity, through her late boyfriend, Akeem, who was also a Marketing student at MAPOLY. She said, “On the day I was arrested, I came from Lagos to attend the candle light procession organised for my late boyfriend, Akeem, in Abeokuta. “After the ...

The Akwa Ibom State Governorship election tribunal sitting in Abuja on Wednesday resumed hearing with the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its governorship candidate in the April 11, governorship election, Mr Udom Emmanuel beginning the defense of their victory at the polls which is being challenged by the All Progressives Congress and its gubernatorial candidate, Mr Umana Okon Umana. Sitting before Justices A.S. Umar ,  K. O. Dawodu and P. T. Kwahar in Court 8 of the Federal Capital Territory High Court, the PDP presented four witnesses on the day they began the defense of the Party’s mandate. Opening the account, Mr Imo Asuquo Okon, a Medical Scientist from Ikot Oku Ikono, Uyo confirmed to the Tribunal that he participated and voted in the Akwa Ibom State governorship election and tendered his voter’s card which was accepted as an exhibit by the Tribunal. Mr Okon told the Tribunal that apart from about three units in his ward where elections were disrupted b...

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, has recovered and returned the sum of 10, 540 Euros to a polish victim of Internet love scam. A statement from EFCC says the victim, simply identified as Jamina, was allegedly duped 40,000 Euros by a Benin based internet fraudster identified as Gabriel Oseremen Xavi who operates a fake Facebook account with the name, Collins Page. The suspect was traced to Benin, Edo State, where he was arrested by EFCC operatives following a petition by the victim. Speaking during the presentation of the sum of 10,540 Euro recovered from the suspected Internet fraudster at the Belgium Embassy, Abuja yesterday September 2nd, EFCC Chairman, Lamorde, charged Western diplomats to sensitize their citizens against Internet love scam. He also urged them to focus more on lonely elderly people who have been found to be easy prey,added that “All the assets acquired by the suspect from the proceeds of the crime will be disposed off at the conclusion of...

The Students’ Union Government (SUG) of the Federal Polytechnic, Auchi (AUCHI POLY) in Edo State has held its election amid intimidation and violence. One of the two presidential candidates in the election, David Utibe of the Department of Computer Science, was kidnapped by unknown hoodlums a few days to the election. David, who was kidnapped with others was released on the day of manifesto. He had bandage . bandage on his arm and walked with the aid of crutches. The school authorities are investigating the incident, which prevented David from carrying on with his campaign. Despite the violence and pressure from students, the Auchi Polytechnic Electoral Commission (APECO) did not postpone the election, clearing the way for David’s rival Joseph Iroghama, an HND 1 Accountancy student, to intensify his campaign.  The election washeld at the Philipa Idogho campus. Announcing the results, the electoral committee...

A fire at a  residential  complex in Saudi Arabia has left 11 people dead and injured at least 200 others, Saudi     officials say. They said multiple nationalities were among the injured - some  critically. The fire broke out at  a site  used to house workers for the oil giant Saudi Aramco in the eastern city of Khobar. The cause is unknown. Some people were reportedly trapped on rooftops as helicopters battled to control the blaze. Like many companies in Saudi Arabia, Aramco uses large numbers of migrant workers. Saudi's civil defence ministry tweeted: "Cars and furniture caught fire in the basement of one of  the towers,  heavy  smoke    billowed, obstructing rescue and firefighting operations." Aramco     says    it   has begun  an  investigation   into the cause.

It was gathered that the pilot, co-pilot, two engineers and three passengers were on  board the plane, which was on its way to Abuja. A  NAF statement, yesterday, by Air Commodore Dele Alonge, Director of Airforce Public Relations, confirmed the incident, saying: “A  Nigerian Air Force (NAF) Dornier-228 aircraft, with registration NAF030, has crashed into a house at Ribadu Cantonment, Kaduna. “Though no casualty was recorded on ground, there were no survivors among the passengers on board the aircraft. “The aircraft was Abuja bound and had taken-off at about 6:45am from the Kaduna Military Airfield before the mishap. “Bodies of the passengers have been recovered and fire fighters are already at the crash site to curtail fire from spreading to other buildings within the vicinity”. Last night, the Chief of the Air Staff,  Air Vice Marshal Sadique  Abubakar, expressed deep pain over the crash, saying a board had been constituted ...

The result of he All Progressives Congress Governorship primaries as announced by the Returning officer, Governor El-Rufai of Kaduna State. Ocholi – 90 Obadofin – 15 Zakari Jiya – 0 Olumoroti – 56 Meyanga – 2 Idrissima – 5 Baba Ali – 28 Yakubu Mohd – 0 Abatemi – 400 Atawodi – 183 Sule Eje Abutu – 2 Clarence Olafemi – 7 Alex Kadir – 1 Onukaba – 1 Elephant – 11 Sani Shaibu – 1 Sanusi Abubakar  – 309 Ugbane – 8 Prince Abubakar Audu -1109 yahaya bello-703

DAUGHTER of former vice president, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, Dr. Fatima Atiku, has been sworn in as Adamawa State Commissioner for Health. As a sign of gratitude for the opportunity to serve, she announced the forfeiture of her salary and allowances for use in revitalising the health sector  in the state. Fielding questions from journalists in Yola yesterday after the ceremony, Fatima, a medical consultant, said she was making the sacrifice because of the numerous challenges in the health sector.

Awka – THE Ohaneze Youth Council, OYC, Friday, expressed deep anger over President Muhammadu Buhari’s latest appointment for the positions of the secretary to the Government of the Federation, SGF, the Chief of Staff to the President and others. President of the of the OYC, Mazi Okechukwu Isiguzoro, in a statement he jointly signed with the group’s Public Relations Officer, Hon. Obinna Adibe, said the appointments were totally unacceptable to Ndigbo, arguing that they violated the principle of federal character as enshrined in the Nigerian constitution. President Buhari announced the appointment of Engr. Babachir David Lawal from Adamawa State as the Secretary to the Government of the Federation; as well as Alhaji Abba Kyari for the position of Chief of Staff to the President the new SGF, C0S and others Others appointed included Col. Hameed Ibrahim Ali (rtd.)- Comptroller-General, Nigerian Customs Service; Mr. Kure Martin Abeshi – Comptroller- General, Nig...

A MILLION USERS visiting the same Internet service on the same day. This isn’t all that cool. You know what’s cool? A billion users on the same service on the same day. And now it’s been done. So says Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg. Zuckerberg says one billion—yes, ONE BILLION —users signed onto Facebook on Monday. While the company claims around 1.5 billion monthly users of its   service, this is the first time that many of them have clocked in on the same day.

Facebook says it will give video creators and publishers a way to remove copyrighted videos that have been uploaded to its popular social network without the proper permission. The company has come under fire from video creators, like YouTube star Hank Green, for allowing users to embed and post videos on the site, even if the content doesn’t belong to them. But this may soon change. Facebook responded to such concerns in a blog post today, saying that it will soon be testing a “new video matching technology,” allowing video partners to check whether their content has been uploaded without their consent. “This technology is tailored to our platform, and will allow these creators to identify matches of their videos on Facebook across Pages, profiles, groups, and geographies,” the company explained in the post. “Our matching tool will evaluate millions of video uploads quickly and accurately, and when matches are surfaced, publishers will be abl...

The appointments came  days  ahead of his September pledge for the unveiling of identities of individuals  that would  form his  government. The appointees, six in number, are Engr. Babachir David Lawal, Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Alhaji Abba Kyari, Chief of Staff, Col Hameed Ibrahim Ali (rtd) Comptroller General, Nigerian Customs Service, Kure Martin Abeshi, Comptroller General, Nigerian Immigration Service, Senator Ita Enag, Special Adviser to the President on National Assembly Matters (Senate) and Hon. Suileman Kawu, Special Adviser to the President on National Assembly (House of Representatives). As would be expected, the appointments have thrown up a deluge of reactions. Rightly, the reactions are varied and somewhat laced with emotions. What cannot lend itself to polemic is that yesterday’s appointments threw many political watchers off guard. This is the reason: Most of the names were clearly outside the long list r...

Doctors in China were presented with a rare medical condition recently. Liang Xiuzhen from Sichuan, south west China, came to them with what appeared to be a horn on her head. The 87-year-old has had the growth for approximately two years and it’s still growing,reports People’s Daily Online. According to reports, around eight years ago, Liang Xiuzhen had a black mole in the area where thehorn is now growing. It started itching so the family started treating it with a local herbal remedy. As the remedy worked without side effects, the family just carried on using it without concerns. Two years ago, the mole split open and a small horn started growing from the skin. In the beginning, it was just about the size of the little finger and around an inch long. The pensioner’s son, Wang Zhaojun, said: ‘We wentvto the hospital and the doctors couldn’t diagnose the growth. ‘My mother doesn’t like going to the hospital because she thinks that she ...

A 24-year-old lady, who was arrested for stabbing her fiancé to death with a kitchen knife, has revealed that quarrel and subsequent fight was over sex. The lady, Blessing Edet, residing at Lekki area of Lagos State, said her fiancé, Edet Ebong, got angry and pounced on her after she refused him sex. Recalling the fateful incident of August 18, 2015, Blessing said: “We lay down to sleep and he started making advances on me for sex. I told him I had a hectic day and was tired. He flared up and started beating me. He broke the standing mirror in the room and injured me above my left eye with the broken glass. In defence, I ran to pick up the kitchen knife I had used while preparing indomie noodles for him. I mistakenly stabbed him in the stomach.” Rather than look for ways to stem the blood flowing out from his stomach, Ebong allegedly continued to chase her around the apartment until he became too weak. Blessing recounted: “After stabbing him, the figh...