Singer David Bowie is dead

                            
Singer David Bowie has died at the age of 69

His son, film director Duncan Jones, confirmed the news and a statement was issued on his social media accounts.

"David Bowie died peacefully today surrounded by his family after a courageous 18-month battle with cancer," the statement said.

"While many of you will share in this loss, we ask that you respect the family’s privacy during their time of grief."

The singer only released his latest album Blackstar on his birthday on Friday, the BBC reports.

Tributes have been paid to Bowie from across the world of entertainment.

Brian Eno, who collaborated with Bowie on his albums Low and Heroes, said: "Words cannot express… rest in peace David Bowie."

Rapper Kanye West said: "David Bowie was one of my most important inspirations, so fearless, so creative, he gave us magic for a lifetime."

Comedian and actor Ricky Gervais, who convinced Bowie to star as himself and ridicule Gervais in an episode of 2006 sitcom Extras, wrote simply: "I just lost a hero. RIP David Bowie."

Comedian and writer Eddie Izzard said: "Very sad to hear about the death of David Bowie but through his music he will live forever."

Bowie collaborator Rick Wakeman wrote on Twitter: "As I’m sure you can imagine I’m gutted hearing of David’s passing. He was the biggest influence and encouragement I could ever have wished for."

And British Prime Minister, David Cameron said: "I grew up listening to and watching the pop genius David Bowie. He was a master of re-invention, who kept getting it right. A huge loss."

 

US donates $11m Mine Resistant Military Vehicles to Nigerian Army

                           
In a bid to fulfill its promise of helping Nigeria fight the Boko Haram insurgency, the United States will today, donate 24 mine-resistant and armor-protected vehicles to the Nigerian Army. The vehicles, which are valued at $11m, would be handed over to the military authorities at the Nigerian Army 9th Brigade Parade Ground, Ikeja Army Cantonment in Lagos. A statement yesterday, by the Public Affairs Section of the United States Consulate General Lagos, said: "The US is pleased to donate 24 Mine-Resistant, Armor-Protected (MRAP) vehicles valued at $11m to Nigeria’s military authorities. "The equipment donation represents part of the continuing US commitment to Nigeria and its neighbours to counter Boko Haram’s senseless acts of terror and promote regional security."

Adadevoh family to filmakers: We didnt give you approval on late Dr. Stella

                                 
The family of the late physician, Dr. Stella Adadevoh, has threatened to take a legal action against the makers of 93 Days, a movie dedicated to the memory of Ebola victims and survivors in the country.

In a letter issued by Dr. Ama Adadevoh on behalf of the Cardosos and the Adadevohs in Lagos on Monday, the families faulted some claims by the filmmakers that were reflected in the yet-to- be released movie.

The families noted that even though the script was given to both families for approval, it claimed that some aspects of the movie did not represent the true accounts and role of the late physician during the Ebola outbreak.

Adadevoh stated, "It has been brought to our attention that a movie titled, 93 Days, written by Paul .S. Rowlston and produced by Native Filmworks, Michelangelo Productions and Bolanle Austin-Peters Productions, is in works for imminent release. The movie about Nigeria’s Ebola story and "dedicated to" Dr. Ameyo Stella Adadevoh was not endorsed by the family.

"The Adadevoh and Cardoso families have not consented to the use of the Stella Adadevoh’s name, likeness or image for commercial profit. The families intend to hold the filmmakers legally accountable for any falsehoods and innuendos in the movie, 93 Days with regard to Dr. Adadevoh and her family."

The families stated that they were committed to ensuring that the true story that pertains to the late physician was told to the public.

Adadevoh was the first Nigerian to have died of Ebola after contracting it from an American-Liberian diplomat, Patrick Sawyer.

She raised the red flag about the viral disease after Sawyer was admitted at the First Consultants Hospital, Obalende, Lagos.


　

 

Lagos State commences transformation of Oshodi, relocates traders

                             
The Lagos State Government has shut the Owonifari market within the notorious loop of Oshodi and relocated affected traders and shop owners to the newly built Isopakodowo market stalls at Bolade area in Oshodi.

The government has also commenced the fencing-off of the set-back on Agege Motor Road that stretches from Ilupeju end of Oshodi all the way to the PWD/Ikeja GRA end of the area.

In a statement signed by the State’s Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Mr. Steve Ayorinde, the move is geared towards the need to sanitize and beautify the entire Oshodi area and bring transformation, in particular, to the Owonifari loop as well as the entire bus stop terminals, which have somewhat constituted a menace and an eyesore within the locality.

According to the statement, the Owonifari loop will be transformed into an ultra modern bus terminus with new bus shelters that are befitting of a structured park in a mega city.

It added that the fencing-off of the long stretch of the set-back is being undertaken to assist the Federal Government and the Nigerian Railway Corporation in particular with a view to beautifying it and safeguard lives along the railway corridor by discouraging street trading and indiscriminate use of the space.

Ayorinde said the ongoing fencing-off and beautification of the road set-back from Ilupeju bypass to PWD/Ikeja GRA would constitute the first phase of the transformation of the Oshodi area. The second phase, he added, would begin from PWD/Ikeja GRA and stretch all the way to Agege/Pen cinema axis.

He stated further that Lagosians should expect from this transformation exercise, a new Oshodi that will be sane and safe and where both traders and commuters would be pleased to visit and trade. He assured that the traders being relocated have been properly allocated shops within the Isopakodowo market and that the demolition of the loop is in the best interest of the people who should expect a world-class bus terminus there.

The commissioner reiterated Governor Akinwunmi Ambode’s commitment to bring development to every area of the state.

He therefore urged the Local Council Development Areas and other stakeholders to cooperate with the State Government in achieving the governor’s vision of making the 2016 budget work for every citizen in the state.

"I don't run personal Facebook"-Apostle Johnson Suleman

                                       
Man of God and the head preacher at Omega Fire & Miracles Ministries, Apostle Johnson Suleman, has alerted the public on the antics of some unscrupulous elements who have been operating Facebook accounts in his name, thereby dissociating himself and ministry from their activities.

Speaking today immediately after the church's annual end-of-the-year mega miracle crusade tagged 'Operation Jabez', the Oracle of God as Suleman is popularly called, warned the public not to buy into the Facebook frauds because he has never operated one personally except the one being run by his ministry's television arm, Celebration TV, and which does not carry his name.

"I don't run Facebook as a person. I have never done that. But there is the one being used by OFM's Celebration TV and it doesn't carry my name.

I understand that people are being duped of huge sums of money. So, if anyone says he is Apostle Johnson Suleman of OFM on Facebook, he is a fraud. No one is asked to run a Facebook account in my name", warns the man of God who is in high preparation for today, December 31, 2015's power-packed 'Crossover Night', which runs into the early hours of the New Year.

 

Prince Bolu Akin-Olugbade,Wife Marks 35th Year Of Marital Bliss

On Sunday,December 27,the Aare Onakakanfo of Owu Kingdom, Prince (Dr.) Bolu Akin-Olugbade and his adorable wife, Yeye Ladunni marked thier 35th wedding anniversary. The celebrated billionaire business man did not pop champagne, neither did he allow self-seeking acolytes clink glasses in his honour. Rather, the tall handsome legal luminary only marked the day quitely and took his wife and including his three boys for a launch in a cozy high profile restaurant on the Island. The private celebration enabled the happy-go-lucky to reminisce about thier love life. Beautiful Ladunni, who is among the A-list of Nigerian fashionable ladies, was said to be excited about the success of her marriage. The marriage which was consummated in 1980, has produced three wonderful big boys who are doing well in thier respective endeavours

Legendary Songstress, Natalie Cole is dead

                                
Her optimism amid personal struggles was inspirational. Her voice? Unforgettable.
Natalie Cole has died, reports the Associated Press and TMZ. She was 65.
"I think that I am a walking testimony that you can have scars," she told CBS’s Sunday Morning in 2006. "You can go through turbulent times and still have victory in your life."
Born Feb. 6, 1950, in Los Angeles, Cole had music in her genes. Her father was legendary crooner Nat King Cole, and her mother, Maria Cole, sang with the Duke Ellington Orchestra.

At age six, Cole recorded a duet with her father, I’m Good Will, You’re Christmas Spirit. By age 11, she was performing alongside him on his television show.
When Cole was 15, and attending boarding school across the country, her father died of lung cancer. As she grew up without her father’s guidance, Cole never abandoned music. She studied Psychology in college at the University of Massachusetts and sang in clubs on weekends, where she was billed as Nat King Cole’s daughter. Yet she was about to find her own voice.


While performing at a club called Mr. Kelley’s, she was discovered by R&B producers Chuck Jackson and Marvin Yancy (whom she married in 1976 and with whom she had her son, Robbie, in 1977). In 1974, she had her first hit, This Will Be, from her debut album, Inseparable. The song won her the Best New Artist Grammy in 1975, the first of nine she would win throughout her career.
Hits and awards kept pouring in as Cole released two more platinum albums (Unpredictable and Thankful, both in 1977). On the outside, Cole was fulfilling her father’s legacy and drawing comparisons to Aretha Franklin. On the inside, she was battling drug addiction. In her 2000 autobiography, Angel on my Shoulder, she wrote that her addiction incapacitated her so severely that she was barely able to escape a fire in her Las Vegas hotel in 1981.

In 1983, she spent several months at the Hazelden Clinic in Minnesota and, with her health intact, released her come-back album, Dangerous, in 1985.
As her career progressed, Cole began to drift away from the pop and R&B styles that had defined her early music and gravitated toward a more jazz-oriented style that drew from the likes of Ella Fitzgerald—and her own father. Her best-known album to date, Unforgettable ... With Love, featured a technology-assisted duet for the song Unforgettable with her father’s original recording.
Years after reclaiming her life from drug addiction, Cole was diagnosed with hepatitis C in 2008. Exhausted, she continued performing until her rapidly declining health was tied to kidney disease, likely a result of the medication she was using to treat her hepatitis C.


Cole continued to tour, receiving dialysis three times per week between performances. During a March 2009 appearance on Larry King Live, her fans’ love for her was apparent. The show received dozens of emails from fans offering her replacement kidneys.
While fighting her own battles, Cole was helping her sister, Cookie, battle cancer. Her sister died the morning Cole got a successful kidney transplant in May 2009.
Her own life saved, Cole was devastated at the loss of her sister, but grateful to the family of the woman whose kidney she received.