Security officials prevent jobless graduate from committing suicide

An unemployed engineering graduate of Ekiti State University, Mr. Sunday Omotayo, was on Wednesday prevented from committing suicide by the police and prison officials.

Omotayo, who caused a stir along Wellington Bassey Way, Uyo, Akwa Ibom State capital, when he deliberately jumped out of a speeding Toyota Hiace bus, expecting to be crushed to death by other vehicles, said he was tired of life as he had been searching for a job for the past 10 years after graduation.

Some policemen, who were on patrol at the time of the incident, told our correspondent that Omotayo had in the morning gone to the state prison asking the officials to either kill him or make way for him to rot in the prison.

A prison officer, who craved anonymity, told our correspondent that they saw him – well dressed and wearing a tie – running towards them. He added that his action forced them to become alert with their guns. He said, “The next thing he said was ‘shoot me, shoot me, I want to die, I am tired of this world’. He added that otherwise, we should allow him to enter and die inside the prison.”The official stated that Omotayo was later overpowered by the police, who counselled him and forced him into a bus heading towards the Ibom Plaza roundabout.An eyewitness, Mr. Effiong Bassey, said Omotayo jumped from the bus into the major road for other vehicles to run over him.

Lying on the main road leading to Akwa Ibom Government House, It took a while for policemen to get him out of the road. He insisted that he must put an end to his poverty-stricken life by committing suicide.Omotayo told PUNCH Metro, “There is no state that I have not gone to in search of a job in the past 10 years. I came to Akwa Ibom because this is my last hope because of the stories of Governor Godswill Akpabio and his uncommon transformation.“I came with the hope that with what is going on in the state, getting a job would be easy so that I can begin to be a man.

But since I came, I discovered that many people from Akwa Ibom are also crying because of poverty and joblessness.”The Police Public Relations Officer, Akwa Ibom State Command, Mr. Etim Dickson, promised to get back to our correspondent once he had confirmed the story from the Divisional Police Officer in charge of the area.

Doris Simon taks 'Stella Damasus and Daniel Ademinokan' on a LIVE TV programme

Since Nollywood actress Doris Simeon's marriage to ace film-maker Daniel Ademinokan crashed about 2 years ago, she hasn't spoken much on what led to the breakup. 

Recall Daniel had alleged at the time their marriage crashed that Doris didn't have time for the family and was always away at movie locations.

Over the weekend, while playing guest during a live TV program -  'Gbajumo Osere' for yoruba movie stars - one of Doris Simon's fans asked why her marriage crashed and if Stella is truly having an affair with Daniel.

In her response, Doris said:


"Only God knows what happened and is happening between them and he's the one who knows why it happened that way. I tried to make the marriage work but it may have been God's will for us to have parted like that. Like I said only God knows what is happening between them but it may be true since it is all over the media and sometimes media reports have some elements of truth. What is of utmost importance to ME now is my growth in the movie industry and my business ventures."

Film-maker, Frank Rajah Arase regrets introducing nudity into Ghollywood

The name Frank Rajah Arase rings a bell in Ghana as one of the best film-makers who have made great impact in the African movie industry. Although many think he is a Ghanaian due to his exploits in Ghollywood, Frank hails from Edo State in Nigeria and is happily married to a Nigerian.
In a recent interview with City People, he disclosed how much he now detests 'nudity in Ghanaian movies' and how he turned the likes of Van Vicker, Yvone Nelson, Jackie Appiah into celebrities.
"Well Heart of Men was actually my movie and we projected nudity in a very daring way. Before then, I got lots of mails from some of my foreign fans who said we love your movies but instead of creating love scenes where you have to put people under the blanket, take off those scenes but if you have to show the scenes, make it close to reality.
That was one flaw people saw in my movies so I was like lets try to make this happen and maybe the devil was at work that day because everybody just complied and we started shooting, it wasn’t planned and it was one of those 5 mins madness so we shot it and after that, it was like an open door for a lot of nudity in our movies and I felt terribly bad for pioneering it and I have since cautioned myself.
Till date I will never do movies with deep kisses talk more sex.I even had serious problems way back at home with my family over that movie, it was terrible and one of those hit movies I didn’t want people to always remember me with. Am doing my very best possible to create an image that people will see and not frown their faces. " he said.
He further disclosed how he turned the likes of Van Vicker,  Yvonne Nelson, Majid Michel into celebrities.
"...in Nigeria, you have the likes of Genevieve Nnaji, Rita Dominic and co, these are commercial faces and I want to create the likes of those in Ghana, I want to differentiate them so we can use them to sell movies here too. So I was like ok let’s sign a contract which we did for 2 years, and later I made it 4 years. The contract was to groom some actors in Ghana and make them stars, we agreed and called for audition, where we picked the likes of Jackie, Nadia Buari,Van Vicker, Kalsum Sinare, Kofi Adjorolo, Majid Michel was a stand by then.
 After the audition, they were the characters I picked, so after picking them we took them through series of productions from Mummy’s Daughter to Beyonce and all of that. That was how the journey started and later on we brought on Majid and then Yvonne Nelson, Juliet Ibrahim, Frank Arthus, Martha Ankomah and just like that  we continued. That was how we started with all of them and today, they are big."

"Abacha was a caring husband..." - Maryam Abacha recounts her love story

Since her husband, Major General Abacha died in 1998; Mrs Maryam Abacha has been living a very quiet life, at first in Kano and now in Abuja. 
However, in this interview with PM Newspaper, she spoke about her husband, how they met, his death and how she's been coping since then he died.

See excerpts below:

How has life been with you since the death of your husband?

We thank God for His kindness and love for us. We also thank those that have been around us in these moments of grief. We are still waiting for those that have distanced themselves from us to reconcile and come back. We are not angry with anybody. We are still friends to everybody. We look forward to the Almighty Allah to provide us the fortitude to bear this loss. So life has been quiet and peaceful with us. We are one and a happy family.

When you heard of his sudden death, how did you take it? How did you feel?
My husband’s death was like a coup. It was sudden and shrouded in confusion. General Abdulasalami [Abubakar] just called me, telling me to come and collect the dead body. We buried him like any other ordinary Nigerian. It was quite unfortunate the way he died. Allah knows best and unto Him we shall all return. May his soul rest in peace. I’m yet to fully recover from the shock of his death.

And how did you both meet?
Like any other would-be couple. He was a charming, handsome and likeable personality; a loving father who liked his children and loved ones. We became friends and got married. Here are pictures in the family album; before, during and after our wedding day. He was a caring husband, a dedicated father and an affectionate grandfather.