British aid worker beheaded by ISIS

The Islamic State yesterday released a video showing the beheading of British aid worker David Haines, who was abducted in Syria last year. Before he was executed, the father of 2 blamed British Prime Minister David Cameron for his death. He said;

"My name is David Cawthorne Haines. I would like to declare that I hold you David Cameron entirely responsible for my execution. You entered voluntarily into a coalition with the United States against the Islamic State, just as your predecessor Tony Blair did, following a trend amongst our British Prime Minsters who can't find the courage to say no to the Americans. 

'Unfortunately it is we the British public that in the end will pay the price for our Parliament's selfish decisions.'

We all know they force these hostages to make these statements but why even say it if you know they will still kill you? Haines is the third westerner to be beheaded in the last few weeks. Continue...

 

Before the execution, the Islamic State militant, called Jihadi John, said;

"This British man has to the pay the price for your promise, Cameron, to arm the Peshmerga against the Islamic State. Ironically he has spent a decade of his life serving under the same Royal Air Force that is responsible for delivering those arms.

'Your evil alliance with America which continues to strike the Muslims of Iraq and most recently bombed the Haditha Dam will only accelerate your destruction, and playing the role of the obedient lapdog, Cameron, will only drag you and your people into another bloody and unwinnable war.'

Responding to the video, British Prime Minister David Cameron said

"This is a despicable and appalling murder of an innocent aid worker. It is an act of pure evil. My heart goes out to the family of David Haines who have shown extraordinary courage and fortitude throughout this ordeal. We will do everything in our power to hunt down these murderers and ensure they face justice, however long it takes," Cameron said.

Did Jay Z announce Beyonce's 2nd pregnancy at Paris concert?

Jay Z may have subtly announced that he and his superstar wife Beyonce are expecting their second child. While performing his new song 'Beach is Better' at the Paris leg of their On The Run tour, Jay Z changed up the lyrics to make the announcement.

The original lyrics is; "Can't take this money with you, Burn this shit up like I'm richer, Nigga's asking, If the oven's on'

Instead he spit; "Can't take this money with you, Burn this shit up like I'm richer, Nigga's asking ...cause she pregnant with another one"

And then check out Beyonce's stomach area in the left pic. Congrats to them if she's really pregnant

Genevieve Nnaji, Waje, Tiwa's stuning outfit to Mo Abudu's 50th brithday event

Genevieve Nnaji stunning in a Monique Lhuillier dress. The grand event is currently going on at the Oriental HOTEL IN Lagos. See Tiwa's outfit after the cut...

Must read: Wole Soyinka writes on the #bringbackjonathan post, says he knows Australian hostage negotiator

In a piece he titled 'The Wages of Impunity', Nobel Laureate Prof Soyinka condemned the recent #bringbackjonathan2015 campaign slogan and GEJ's recent trip to Chad with Ali Modu Sheriff, who has been accused of being a Boko Haram sponsor. In the piece posted on Sahara Reporters, Prof Soyinka wrote that he knows Australian hostage negotitaor Stephen Davis, saying that they both worked together under late President Umaru Musa Yar Adua's regime during the struggle for the return of peace in the Niger Delta region. 

He also wrote that he has his own theories regarding how General Ihejirika may have come under Stephen Davis’ searchlight. Find his article after the cut...

The dancing obscenity of Shekau and his gang of psychopaths and child abductors, taunting the world, mocking the BRING BACK OUR GIRLS campaign on internet, finally met its match in Nigeria to inaugurate the week of September 11 – most appropriately. Shekau’s danse macabre was surpassed by the unfurling of a political campaign banner that defiled an entry point into Nigeria’s capital of Abuja. That banner read:  BRING BACK JONATHAN 2015.

President Jonathan has since disowned all knowledge or complicity in the outrage but, the damage has been done, the rot in a nation’s collective soul bared to the world. The very possibility of such a desecration took the Nigerian nation several notches down in human regard. It confirmed the very worst of what external observers have concluded and despaired of  - a culture of civic callousness, a coarsening of sensibilities and, a general human disregard. It affirmed the acceptance, even domination of lurid practices where children are often victims of unconscionable abuses including ritual sacrifices, sexual enslavement, and worse. Spurred by electoral desperation, a bunch of self-seeking morons and sycophants chose to plumb the abyss of self-degradation and drag the nation down to their level.  It took us to a hitherto unprecedented low in ethical degeneration.  The bets were placed on whose turn would it be to take the next potshots at innocent youths in captivity whose society and governance have failed them and blighted their existence? Would the Chibok girls now provide standup comic material for the latest staple of Nigerian escapist diet?  Would we now move to a new export commodity in the entertainment industry named perhaps “Taunt the Victims”?

As if to confirm all the such surmises, an ex-governor, Sheriff, notorious throughout the nation – including within security circles as affirmed in their formal dossiers – as prime suspect in the sponsorship league of the scourge named Boko Haram,  was presented to the world as a presidential traveling companion. And the speculation became: was the culture of impunity finally receiving endorsement as a governance yardstick?  Again, Goodluck Jonathan swung into a plausible explanation: it was Mr. Sheriff who, as friend of the host President Idris Deby, had traveled ahead to Chad to receive Jonathan as part of President Deby’s welcome entourage.  What, however does this say of any president? How come it that a suspected affiliate of a deadly criminal gang, publicly under such ominous cloud, had the confidence to smuggle himself into the welcoming committee of another nation, and even appear in audience, to all appearance a co-host with the president of that nation? Where does the confidence arise in him that Jonathan would not snub him openly or, after the initial shock, pull his counterpart, his official host aside and say to him, “Listen, it’s him, or me.”? So impunity now transcends boundaries, no matter how heinous the alleged offence?

The Nigerian president however appeared totally at ease. What the nation witnessed in the photo-op was an affirmation of a governance principle, the revelation of a decided frame of mind – with precedents galore. Goodluck Jonathan has brought back into limelight more political reprobates – thus attested in criminal courts of law and/or police investigations – than any other Head of State since the nation’s independence. It has become a reflex. Those who stuck up the obscene banner in Abuja had accurately read Jonathan right as a Bring-back president. They have deduced perhaps that he sees “bringing back” as a virtue, even an ideology, as the corner stone of governance, irrespective of what is being brought back. No one quarrels about bringing back whatever the nation once had and now sorely needs – for instance, electricity and other elusive items like security, the rule of law etc. etc. The list is interminable. The nature of what is being brought back is thus what raises the disquieting questions. It is time to ask the question: if Ebola were to be eradicated tomorrow, would this government attempt to bring it back?

Well, while awaiting the Chibok girls, and in that very connection, there is at least an individual whom the nation needs to bring back, and urgently. His name is Stephen Davis, the erstwhile negotiator in the oft aborted efforts to actually bring back the girls.  Nigeria needs him back – no, not back to the physical nation space itself, but to a Nigerian induced forum, convoked anywhere that will guarantee his safety and can bring others to join him. I know Stephen Davis, I worked in the background with him during efforts to resolve the insurrection in the Delta region under President Shehu Yar’Adua. I have not been involved in his recent labours for a number of reasons. The most basic is that my threshold for confronting evil across a table is not as high as his -  thanks, perhaps, to his priestly calling. From the very outset, in several lectures and other public statements, I have advocated one response and one response only to the earliest, still putative depredations of Boko Haram and have decried any proceeding that smacked of appeasement. There was a time to act – several times when firm, decisive action, was indicated. There are certain steps which, when taken, place an aggressor beyond the pale of humanity, when we must learn to accept that not all who walk on two legs belong to the community of humans – I view Boko Haram in that light. It is no comfort to watch events demonstrate again and again that one is proved to be right.

Thus, it would be inaccurate to say that I have been detached from the Boko Haram affliction – very much the contrary. As I revealed in earlier statements, I have interacted with the late National Security Adviser, General Azazi, on occasion – among others.  I am therefore compelled to warn that anything that Stephen Davis claims to have uncovered cannot be dismissed out of hand.  It cannot be wished away by foul-mouthed abuse and cheap attempts to impugn his integrity – that is an absolute waste of time and effort. Of the complicity of ex-Governor Sheriff in the parturition of Boko Haram, I have no doubt whatsoever, and I believe that the evidence is overwhelming. Femi Falana can safely assume that he has my full backing – and that of a number of civic organizations – if he is compelled to go ahead and invoke the legal recourses available to him to force Sheriff’s prosecution. The evidence in possession of Security Agencies – plus a number of diplomats in Nigeria – is overwhelming, and all that is left is to let the man face criminal persecution. It is certain he will also take many others down with him.

Regarding General Ihejirika, I have my own theories regarding how he may have come under Stephen Davis’ searchlight in the first place, ending up on his list of the inculpated. All I shall propose at this stage is that an international panel be set up to examine all allegations, irrespective of status or office of any accused. The unleashing of a viperous cult like Boko Haram on peaceful citizens qualifies as a crime against humanity, and deserves that very dimension in its resolution. If a people must survive, the reign of impunity must end. Truth – in all available detail – is in the interest, not only of Nigeria, the sub-region and the continent, but of the international community whose aid we so belatedly moved to seek. From very early beginnings, we warned against the mouthing of empty pride to stem a tide that was assuredly moving to inundate the nation but were dismissed as alarmists. We warned that the nation had moved into a state of war, and that its people must be mobilized accordingly – the warnings were disregarded, even as slaughter surmounted slaughter, entire communities wiped out, and the battle began to strike into the very heart of governance, but all we obtained in return was moaning, whining and hand-wringing up and down the rungs of leadership and governance. But enough of recriminations – at least for now. Later, there must be full accounting.

Finally, Stephen Davis also mentions a Boko Haram financier within the Nigerian Central Bank. Independently we are able to give backing to that claim, even to the extent of naming the individual. In the process of our enquiries, we solicited the help of a foreign embassy whose government, we learnt, was actually on the same trail, thanks to its independent investigation into some money laundering that involved the Central Bank. That name, we confidently learnt, has also been passed on to President Jonathan. When he is ready to abandon his accommodating policy towards the implicated, even the criminalized, an attitude that owes so much to re-election desperation, when he moves from a passive “letting the law to take its course” to galvanizing the law to take its course, we shall gladly supply that name.

In the meantime however, as we twiddle our thumbs, wondering when and how this nightmare will end, and time rapidly runs out, I have only one admonition for the man to whom so much has been given, but who is now caught in the depressing spiral of diminishing returns: “Bring Back Our Honour.”

Wole Soyinka

Kim Kardashian FINALLY Takes The Ice Bucket Challenge In A Very Kim Way!

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She’s joined the rest of the family!

Kim Kardashian was holding out on taking the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge, but there was one person she couldn’t escape… Ellen DeGeneres!

In an upcoming episode, Kim got super wet on stage, when the talk show host poured the water all over her!

And OF COURSE she was taking a selfie at the time!

Hopefully her outfit wasn’t dry clean only! LOLz!

We only have a teaser of the moment, but that alone is gold!

Ch-ch-check it out (below)!

Read more: http://perezhilton.com/2014-09-07-kim-kardashian-als-ice-bucket-challenge#ixzz3CbSC5GUl

Davido Leads With 5 Nominations

Nigerian singer, Davido leads this year nominations at theChannel O Africa Music Video Awards. The 'Aye' singer is tied with South African Cassper Nyovest; Mr “Caracara” who also have five nominations.

Davido represents West Africa with his impressive nominations for the track “Aye” which dominated in four categories Most Gifted Male Video, Most Gifted Afro Pop Video, Most Gifted West Video and Most Gifted Video of the Year, while “Skelewu” earned him a comfortable spot in the Most Gifted Dance Video category.

Other Nigerians also up for the awards include, Don Jazzy who is up for 4 categories. Burna Boy also shines brightly with 4 nominations, and Tiwa Savage with 2. Olamide, Phyno, Wizkid, Jesse Jagz, Flavour, 2face Idibia, Seyi Shay, Patoranking, Kcee, Psquare, Orezi. Niyola & Dr Sid also are in for various categories.

K.O, the man behind one of the most popular tracks that’s blazing radio and television stations alike at the moment,“Caracara”, makes his Channel O Africa Music Video Awards nominee debut as a solo artist in the categories Most Gifted Male Video, Most Gifted Duo, Group or Featuring Video, Most Gifted Hip Hop Video, Most Gifted Southern Videoand Most Gifted Video of the Year.

Spread across a staggering 14 categories, this year’s Channel O Africa Music Video Awards nominees are a showcase ofOriginal.African music from all corners of the continent – befitting to the dashing 17 year old music channel that has and continues to consistently be a pioneer for Africa’s musicians and music for well over a decade.

Voting takes place across a wide range of digital platforms: via the website and mobile site – voting on the website and on the mobile site [www.channelo.tv] is free and you are allowed to vote up to 100 times on both platforms respectively; via WeChat– voting on WeChat is free.

To vote using WeChat on your mobile, go to the app store on your phone, download the WeChat app, create your profile, then search for Channelotv and add the account. You can vote up to 100 times!

For terms and conditions and more information, log on towww.channelo.tv. Voting starts today at 16:00 and closes on the 23rd of November at midnight.

The Channel O Africa Music Video Awards are the only public voted annual music video awards show broadcast around the continent that exclusively feature African artists and now in their 11th year, 2014 will see the awards taking place on Saturday, 29 November at Nasrec Expo Centre in Soweto.

Will these nominations equal wins? Only YOU the voting public can decide! Check on the full list below.

MOST GIFTED MALE
CASSPER NYOVEST – DOC SHEBELEZA
DAVIDO – AYE
RIKY RICK FT OKMALUMKOOLKAT – AMANTOMBAZANE
K.O. FT KID X – CARACARA
SARKODIE – ILLUMINATI

MOST GIFTED FEMALE
THEMBI SEETE – THUNTSHA LEROLE
BUCIE FT HEAVY K – EASY TO LOVE
LIZHA JAMES FT UHURU – QUEM TI MANDOU
TIWA SAVAGE FT DON JAZZY – EMINADO
SEYI SHAY – IRAWO

MOST GIFTED NEWCOMER 
DREAM TEAM FT TAMARSHA, AKA & BIG NUZ – TSEKEDE
CASSPER NYOVEST – DOC SHEBELEZA
EMMY GEE FT AB CRAZY & DJ DIMPLEZ – RANDS AND NAIRAS
DIAMOND – NUMBER ONE
PATORANKING – GIRLIE O (REMIX)

MOST GIFTED DUO, GROUP OR FEATURING
UHURU FT OSKIDO & PROFESSOR – Y-TJUKUTJA
DJ CLOCK FT BEATENBERG – PLUTO (I REMEMBER)
R2BEES FT WIZKID – SLOW DOWN
K.O. FT KID X – CARACARA
KCEE FT WIZKID – PULL OVER

MOST GIFTED DANCE
UHURU FT OSKIDO & PROFESSOR – Y-TJUKUTJA
DAVIDO – SKELEWU
DJ CLOCK FT BEATENBERG – PLUTO (I REMEMBER)
P SQUARE – PERSONALLY
BUSISWA FT VARIOUS – NGOKU

MOST GIFTED RAGGA DANCEHALL
BUFFALO SOULJAH – BASAWINE
OREZI – RIHANNA
JESSE JAGGZ FEAT WIZKID – BAD GIRL
PATORANKING – GIRLIE O (REMIX)
SHATTA WALE – EVERYDOBY LIKES MY TING

MOST GIFTED AFRO POP
DAVIDO – AYE
MAFIKIZOLO FT MAY D – HAPPINESS
DIAMOND – NUMBER ONE
FLAVOUR ADA ADA
IYANYA – JOMBOLO

MOST GIFTED KWAITO
UHURU FT OSKIDO & PROFESSOR – Y-TJUKUTJA
CHARACTER FT MONO T & OSKIDO – INXEBA LENDODA
BIG NUZ FT KHAYA MTHETHWA – INCWADI YOTHANDO
DJ VETKUK VS MAHOOTA – KHABA LENJA
DJ CNDO – YAMNANDI INTO

MOST GIFTED R&B
2FACE FT T PAIN - RAINBOW
JIMMY NEVIS FT KWESTA – BALLOON
GB COLLECTIVE FT BRIAN TEMBA & REASON – CHOCOLATE VANILLA
DONALD – CRAZY BUT AMAZING
NIYOLA – TOH BAD

MOST GIFTED HIP HOP
CASSPER NYOVEST – DOC SHEBELEZA
KHULI CHANA FT DA L.E.S & MAGESH – HAPE LE HAPE 2.1
PHYNO – ALOBAM
K.O. FT KID X – CARACARA
AKA – CONGRATULATE

MOST GIFTED SOUTHERN
DJ CLOCK FT BEATENBERG – PLUTO (I REMEMBER)
CASSPER NYOVEST – DOC SHEBELEZA
AKA – CONGRATULATE
ZEUS – PSYCH
K.O. FT KID X – CARACARA

MOST GIFTED WEST
R2BEES FT WIZKID – SLOW DOWN
DAVIDO – AYE
BURNA BOY FT D’BANJ – WON DA MO
OLAMIDE – TURN UP
DR SID FT DON JAZZY – SURULERE

MOST GIFTED EAST
SAUTI SOL – NSHIKE
DIAMOND – NUMBER ONE
NAVIO – NO HOLDING BACK
EDDY KENZO – SITYA LOSS
ELANI – KOOKOO

MOST GIFTED VIDEO OF THE YEAR
EMMY GEE FT AB CRAZY & DJ DIMPLEZ – RANDS AND NAIRAS
DAVIDO – AYE
K.O. FT KID X – CARACARA
BURNA BOY – RUN MY RACE
TIWA SAVAGE FT DON JAZZY – EMINADO
DR SID FT DON JAZZY – SURULERE
RIKY RICK FT OKMALUMKOOLKAT – AMANTOMBAZANE
CASSPER NYOVEST – DOC SHEBELEZA
SARKODIE – ILLUMINATI
DJ CLOCK FT BEATENBERG – PLUTO (I REMEMBER)
AKA – CONGRATULATE
DIAMOND – NUMBER ONE

VOTE NOW!

Follow The Rules; Ja Rule gets His Own MTV Reality Show

Rapper Ja Rule is the latest celebrity to hop on the reality TV bandwagon with his new show 'Follow the Rules' which is produced by Queen Latifah and Irv Gotti. The show airs on MTV this September.

The show was initially scheduled to hold on September 7, 2014 but was postponed due to a fire incident

Fans of Big Brother Africa can heave a sigh of relief as this year’s show will go on afterall.

The organizers of BBA Hotshots have released a statement saying that a new venue has been found and the show will begin within the next month.

The statement reads:

Following the devastating fire on 2 September 2014 at the Big Brother house in Johannesburg, M-Net and Endemol SA have spent the last 48 hours searching both locally and internationally for a venue in which to produce Season 9 of the highly popular Big Brother Africa reality show.

After exploring all possible options, the team are delighted to announce that the show will go on as a venue has been found to get the show on air within the next month.

A multitude of factors have had to be considered including the complex technical requirements, logistics, technical crews and satellite link facilities which have all formed part of the challenge.

 However, M-Net is delighted to assure all its Big Brother fans that their favourite reality show will launch soon and thanks fans from across the continent for their support during the last two days.

The show was scheduled to start in Johannesburg, South Africa on Sunday September 7, 2014 but had to be cancelled indefinitely due to the fire

Jay Z & Beyonce's On The Run ticket sales break the bank

Jay Z and Beyonce have solidified their status as music's greatest couple. The final numbers are in for their sold out One the Run tour...and they made $95,978,476 from June 25-Aug. 6 in 16 stadiums.

From Billboard, 

Beyonce and Jay Z land atop the Hot Tours chart, having wrapped the North American leg of their On the Run tour that played stadiums in 16 markets during a six-week span in the summer. Box office grosses totaled $96 million from ticket sales reported by tour promoter Live Nation for 19 sold-out performances during the summertime trek that kicked off June 25 in Florida and wrapped Aug. 6 in Calif

Joan Rivers' funeral fixed for this sunday in NYC

..joan rivers funeral

We still cannot believe that Joan Rivers has passed.

Plans have been made to have a funeral for the late, great comedienne at Temple Emanu-El in New York this Sunday.

The temple's Rabbi Joshua M. Davidson had this to say about her death today:

    "It is a terribly sad day for all of us. We mourn with her family, friends and all those millions to whom she brought laughter and joy."

We reported earlier on how Joan had some pretty HIGHlarious requests for her funeral, and even if the details won't be as over the top as she wanted, we know it will be a very emotional service.

We're very sad to lose such an AH-Mazing comic. She will be so terribly missed