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I Want People To Think I Did Rituals This Year – Mercy Eke

Popular Reality TV star and first Big Brother Naija female winner, Mercy Eke has disclosed her financial expectations for the year, 2023.

In a post shared via Twitter, the influencer, actress and businesswoman revealed that she wants to pursue money with full force this year.

According to Mercy Eke, she wants to be really wealth to the extent that people would think and believe that she did ‘blood money’.

Ebonyi state governement lodge Abuja

In her words:

“This year I want people to think I did blood money. So help me God.”

Mixed reactions have trailed her tweet as some people criticised the idea while others accepted it.

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Managing Political Disappointments: Lessons From Akwa Ibom – Lifestyle Nigeria

An impressive collection of dignitaries gathered at the Worship Center, Uyo, on Wednesday for a thanksgiving service to celebrate the 60th birthday of the Akwa Ibom State governor, Pastor Umo Eno. There were songs, prayers and speeches from many, but it was Mrs. Ekaette Unoma Akpabio, wife of the Senate President, who surprised the crowd the most with her profound philosophical rendition.  

One after the other, she recognized the dignitaries and had something nice to say about them. Gov. Eno; former Governor Udom Emmanuel; former President Goodluck Jonathan; political leaders, clergies, business leaders and traditional chiefs were all present. Gaily dressed women added a peculiar hue to the colourful event. When she got to the immediate past governor of the state, Mr. Udom Emmanuel, Mrs Akpabio went spiritual and philosophical, drawing both laughter and applause from the audience.

‘’I am here to represent our leader, our father, the father of Gabriel Udom Emmanuel’’, she said, referring to her husband, adding, ‘’and by extension, I am the mother of Gabriel Udom Emmanuel’’. There were laughs and applause. In 2015, Gov. Akpabio invited Udom Emmanuel, then an executive director at Zenith Bank, into partisan politics and made him governor of the state in a typical Nigerian succession politics. She continued, ‘’I want to thank you, your excellency, our immediate past governor, Gabriel Udom Emmanuel, for propelling us to go to the center. If you had not propelled us; if you had not moved, Akwa Ibom people would not have been at the position they are today. So, I greet you Sir. God ordered your footsteps’’.

Mrs. Akpabio was essentially recalling the frosty relationship between her husband and Mr. Udom Emmanuel, and how that turned out to a blessing for Akpabio.  She was therefore grateful that God used Udom Emmanuel to ‘’propel’’ her husband out of Akwa Ibom politics into national politics. Now, soon after Udom Emmanuel succeeded Akpabio as governor, the relationship between the two broke down, something not uncommon in our politics. Akpabio had contested and won election to the senate in 2015, and so, the two men managed to keep their rancour from public knowledge for the first two or three years. In August 2018, Senator Akpabio decamped from the PDP to the APC, leaving his godson, Gov.  Udom Emmanuel in the PDP. A big political turmoil erupted in the state, leading to Akpabio’s failure to win a reelection to the senate in the 2019.

He became minister in 2019 and the political gulf between the two widened more and more. In 2023, he contested again for the senate, telling Akwa Ibom people that he would be the Senate President if he won. He won and, to the surprise of many, became Senate President, under APC while Eno became governor, succeeding Udom Emmanuel, under PDP.

Things now began to work differently. Eno discarded politics of war and quarrel, and reached out to Akpabio and others in APC, creating a never-seen-before political harmony in the state. Last year, Eno attended Akpabio’s inaugural ceremonies as senate president and since then, has been very deferential of the senate President. Akpabio has also reciprocated the gestures from the governor and yesterday, his wife represented him at the celebration to mark the birthday of Gov Eno.  This rearrangement of the contours of politics in the state therefore afforded Akpabio’s wife the opportunity to go spiritual yesterday.

Mrs Akpabio’s assertion that it was Udom Emmanuel who ‘’propelled’’ her husband to return to the senate and eventually become senate president is therefore correct, and reflects the depth of her spirituality. It’s a testament to an adage that says that when one door is closed, another is open.  If Akpabio and his successor had not fallen out, maybe he would still have remained in the PDP and would not have become Senate President. The quarrel catapulted Akpabio to seek relevance in national politics. It is a classic case of turning a disappointment into a blessing. An English adage says that. ‘’If life gives you a lemon, turn it into a lemonade’’. My own favourite saying which I have on my WhatsApp profile is, ‘’If you stumble on the dance floor, make it part of the dance’’. The Bible expresses it differently. ‘’And we know that for those who love God, all things work together for good…’’ (Romans 8:28).

I was very pleased to hear Mrs. Akpabio, a devout Catholic, express her thoughts in this spiritual context. She had come to understand that her husband’s fight with his successor was his stepping stone to a higher responsibility. That’s why she told Udom Emmanuel yesterday, ‘’God ordered your footsteps’’. Many people have their own experiences of how personal disappointments have turned out to be a blessing. I have mine.

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Telcos Hint At Price Increment For Data And Voice Services

Telecommunications operators in Nigeria have stated that they have not increased their service rates for over 11 years and are overdue for price increments.

Lifestyle Nigeria reports that the Association of Licensed Telecom Operators of Nigeria (ALTON) and the Association of Telecommunication Companies of Nigeria (ATCON) jointly released a statement on Thursday, highlighting that the telecommunications sector is the only industry that has not reviewed its prices despite the country’s rising inflation rate and other economic realities that warrant increment.

They have attributed the delay in price increments to regulatory limitations that prevent them from setting prices appropriately.

“ALTON and ATCON respectfully reiterate that telecommunications infrastructure development requires substantial investments in network expansion, maintenance, and technology upgrades,” the statement reads.

“Despite the adverse economic headwinds, the telecommunications industry remains the only industry yet to review its general service pricing framework upward in the last (11) years, primarily due to regulatory constraints.

“For a fully liberalized and deregulated sector, the current price control mechanism, which is not aligned with economic realities, threatens the industry’s sustainability and can erode investors’ confidence.

“ATCON and ALTON call upon the government to facilitate a constructive dialogue with industry stakeholders to address pricing challenges and establish a framework that balances consumers’ affordability with operators’ financial viability.”

Furthermore, the operators called for government action to address telecommunications industry challenges such as taxation, regulations, right of way (RoW), charges, inadequate power supply, and infrastructure vandalism.

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Namtira Bwala father makes demands of British Lead

The father of Namtira Bwala, the student who was brutally bullied by her classmates, including Maryam Hassan, has called on the management of Lead British International School, Abuja, to take decisive action against the perpetrators.

. reports that the disturbing Update of the incident, which went viral on social media, sparked widespread outrage and condemnation.

Speaking before the Minister of Women Affairs, Uju Kennedy-Ohaneye, Namtira’s father made two demands: firstly, he gave the school a 48-hour ultimatum to take action against the bullies, and secondly, he insisted that his daughter would not return to the same school or class as her tormentors.

SEE him speak in the Update below;

The temporary shutdown of Lead British International School is a welcome development, but the father’s demands underline the need for more concrete actions to ensure justice and safety for Namtira and all students.

The viral TikTok clip, shared by @symfonitv1, has kept the conversation going, with many calling for support and protection for Namtira and her family. The school management and authorities must take this incident seriously and the demands by the father of Namtira Bwala from the management of Lead British School are bound to resonate as the debate over the issues continue in the polity.
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