Funmi Iyanda finally talks about how NTA shut down her show for interviewing a gay man

Exceptionally brilliant TV talk show host Funmi Iyanda has finally opened up about how Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) shut down her live shows after she interviewed openly gay Nigerian man, Bisi Alimi, on her popular breakfast show, New Dawn, in 2004.

I remember this story pretty well. After Bisi Alimi appeared on that show his life changed forever. He couldn't even return to UNILAG where he was a student at the time. He was forced to go into hiding and eventually relocated abroad. Read Funmi's story after the cut...

It’s a good thing my meddling mum took Musibau off his alcoholic dad just before that wretch of a father was sent to jail for raping a minor. My mother went missing a year later so I never saw Musibau again but that’s another story.

He was 15 but he looked 12, l was seven but l looked 10. People generally looked weird in my neighbourhood, but nobody thought anyone one weird – odd maybe but life was odd wasn’t it?

Musibau was the first to run into Miss John who spoke Queen’s English and walked like a girl. Everybody called him Miss John, I have no idea why. But we were interested in him because we needed to walk through his garden to climb into Baba Olugbo’s compound for the agbalumo tree.

Nobody dared walked through Baba Olugbo’s compound to get to that tree. He was a wealthy molue bus entrepreneur with seven wives, a distended, shirtless stomach, marijuana thickened growl and a fast horsewhip for clueless kids.

I had four older sisters and two younger brothers but I felt closest to Musibau perhaps because we had a shared tendency to get into trouble and a common dislike of Nureni. Nureni was crippled by childhood polio and so dragged himself around on his muscular torso except when he went to school wearing his leg braces and crutches, which made him vulnerable.

We did not like Nureni; he had a caustic tongue, a reptilian ability to wrestle you down then strangle you and was genius at maths. He was faster moving dragging himself than he was on his crutches. He hated those crutches but he really liked Mulika.

Mulika was one of the two daughters of Alhaji Abara whose two wives wore hijabs so you couldn’t tell one from the other. I of course could; Mulika’s mother was the one with the two Pelé on her cheeks, right above her haughty cheekbones. A stunning woman. I knew because I saw them in the women’s quarters every time I went to play with Mulika, who had inherited her mother’s looks.

We all loved Alhaji Abara because he had the best spread for breaking fasts at Ramadan. It didn’t matter whether you were Christian, Animist or Muslim. You could come break the fast on divine akara, even if you didn’t fast. He used to say only Allah sees the good heart. We all attended Koran classes because it was fun and then went to church on Sunday because of the music and dancing.

My mother didn’t mind us going to church and Koran classes, in fact she supplemented all that with occasional visits to seers and herbalists who read our signs and cleansed our aura. Everyone did that, even that nasty priggish Catholic Mama Uche who acted like she was the pope’s first cousin.

Miss John always pretended not to see us sneaking through his garden and jumping over Baba Olugbo’s fence to pluck some agbalumo. A few times, Baba Olugbo would see us and come running belly first, whip flaying but we always out ran him, Nureni in front and Mulika, scarf flapping, at the back.

We never got caught until the day Nureni came on those damn crutches that made him slow. Baba Olugbo caught Mulika by her scarf and I tripped over Nureni’s crutches.

We knew we were in hot soup because once Baba Olugbo finished whipping us, he’d hand us over to our respective parents each of whom would apply equal supplementary punishment. That meant my tough mother’s hour-long frog jumps, Alhaji’s half day Koran writing and Nureni’s aunty’s numbing, monotonous curses.

We didn’t mind the whipping so much, a few lashes, a couple of pain killers and we’d be back trying to get more agbalumo’s off that tree. Once you’ve been whipped, you don’t get whipped again on the same day for the same offence – even the adults had some sense.

So it was I laid on my back staring at Baba Olugbo’s protruding belly button, Nureni’s fast breathing in my ear, dreading the inevitable – when suddenly Miss John walked up.

Perhaps it was his Queen’s English or our lucky day but he gently took the whip off Baba Olugbo’s clenched wrist and laughingly told him he had asked us to get some of the ripe agablumo for him seeing as it was abundant.

Baba Olugbo did not want to look like a mingy old fart; he was after all a rich man with political ambition. He grudgingly let us go, and I swore to Nureni and Musibau later that I saw Miss John wink out of a kohl-lined eye.

I remembered this story recently when I was asked why I, as a straight celebrity, a word I dislike, I support Bisi Alimi and LGBT rights.

Nigeria of today seems completely homophobic, xenophobic and religiously polarized as though that is the way we always were.

This would be an incomplete narrative. The way we are today is a result of the political and economic breakdown of our country, a topic for another day. However the ensuing widening income gaps, extreme poverty, illiteracy and crime has encouraged distrust and exclusion at every level.

My sense of justice, fairness and rationality supersede any latent sense of social propriety. Gay rights, civil rights, religious rights, gender rights, child rights are human rights. Justice, equity and fairness are my idea of morality.

I was a little girl who grew up in the same neighbourhood as gay Miss John, Muslim cleric Alhaji Abara, disabled Nureni, Mulika in her headscarves and pious Catholic Igbo Mama Uche.

I saw differences in ethnicity; religion, gender, class and sexuality but these differences did not carry judgement. We lived together mostly harmoniously; any lack of harmony was on account of individual bad behaviour not genetic differences or lifestyle choices.

I miss that Nigeria. I guess in a way l still live in that Nigeria in my head.

And that was why in 2004 I risked my career to put Bisi on my sofa and conduct Nigeria’s first interview of an openly gay man on national television.

Bisi and I did pay a hefty price for that action, he more than myself.

Was it worth it? I’m afraid l have never had the luxury of absolute self-congratulations or flagellation. What I do know is, at that moment, it felt right. And every moment since then, it has felt right.

I do what feels right by a conscience conditioned by my justice-minded, meddling mother, a childhood experiencing the beauty of diversity and a belief in our common humanity.

Perhaps the childhood I speak about was a dream. If that is the case then that dream is my vision of the future to come for Nigeria.

Okocha throws 40th birthday party for wife, gives her G-Wagon as present

Nigerian football legend Austin 'Jay Jay' Okocha, threw a lavish 40th birthday party for his wife of 16 years, Nkechi Okocha on Friday October 25th at Civic Centre in Lagos. Maestromedia reports that Okocha gave his wife a brand new White Mercedez Benz G-Wagon SUV as birthday present. Nkechi was said to have gone down on her knees to thank her husband for all his love and support in front of the party guests. Happy belated birthday to her!

Dear Chidinma, Peeshawn of Skuki says he's inlove with you & wants to marry you

Chidinma, get in here, there's someone who is in love with you and wants the world to know it. Peeshawn, one half of singing sensation Skuki (pictured above in white shirt) confessed his love for the pretty Kedike singer in an interview with Encomium mag. Excerpts from the interview below...

But, there are some you also admire that you don’t mind spending the rest of your life with?
Yes, of course! Nigeria is blessed with pretty babes. If you study me well, you will observe that I am a very romantic guy, at the same time, I am very emotional. I definitely have someone that I love so much. In the industry or out of the industry?
(Pause for seconds) In the industry, I have someone I really love so much. Who is the lucky lady?
(Pauses again) Chidinma. She’s really attractive. I really love her so much, but we’ve not really had time to chat closely, except when we met at backstage during shows. I hope she will read this, for her to know that Peeshaun of Skuki loves her. But Chidinma doesn’t read newspapers. She told us in an interview recently?
I am sure her friends, family will read it. They will definitely tell her I said so. I will love to marry her.

Are you serious?
Yes, of course!

What do you really like about Chidinma?
First, I love her music. I love her style. I love her composure. Apart from that, what I love in a woman is a beautiful face and I think Chidinma has 10/10 of that. The low cut on her head is making her look more beautiful anytime I see her performing or watch her video.

Are you directly or indirectly proposing to her?
I don’t want to talk about that now. Next question, please.

Actress Liz Anjorin explains why she dumped christianity for Islam

Popular actress Liz Anjorin surprised many recently when photos of her on Muslim Pilgrimage to Mecca surfaced online. She later announced that she was changing her religion from Christianity to Islam. She also dropped the name Elizabeth and announced that she would like to be addressed as Aisha, in light with her new religion. Liz has finally opened up about why she made the decision..

Liz tells City People

"It happened in a miraculous way which I have been expecting for long, not that I woke up yesterday and decided to change my religion. By birth, I was half Muslim and half Christian. My father was Christian while my mum was Muslim. Growing up I went to church because of my father. I didn't have a choice at the time but I have always had interest in Islam so immediately my father died I switched over to my mum's religion. It is a religion I love so much. Also Aisha is now my official name though Liz is still my name and I will continue to use the name to do movies.

Pics: Iyanya spends birthday at Ikoyi prisons; performs with inmates

Afro-pop superstar Iyanya celebrated his birthday today with a visit to Ikoyi Prisons. The singer who just turned 27 was welcomed warmly by the DCP Bamidele and the community; he proceeded into the correctional facility where he spoke with the inmates.

Highlights of the visit included his performance with the talented intimates; Iyanya also pledged to build a recording studio in the establishment for the musically inclined inmates. More pics after the cut

Kanye says he and Kim are more influential than Barack & Michelle

Kanye needs to change his meds...lol. The talented rapper, who used to constantly criticize the media in the past, now seems to love the media since becoming a member of the Kardashian clan. Kanye now loves promoting himself and his baby mama Kim Kardashian any opportunity he gets.

In his latest interview, Kanye explains why he and his fiancee Kim are more influential than president Barrack Obama and the First Lady, Michelle Obama. Kanye tells Ryan Seacrest;

"There’s no way Kim Kardashian shouldn’t be on the cover of Vogue. She’s like the most intriguing woman right now. She’s got Barbara Walters calling her like everyday.”

“And collectively, we’re the most influential with clothing. No one is looking at what [Barack Obama] is wearing. Michelle Obama cannot Instagram a [bikini] pic like what my girl Instagrammed the other day.”

Kanye says he and Kim are more influential than Barack & Michelle

Kanye needs to change his meds...lol. The talented rapper, who used to constantly criticize the media in the past, now seems to love the media since becoming a member of the Kardashian clan. Kanye now loves promoting himself and his baby mama Kim Kardashian any opportunity he gets.

In his latest interview, Kanye explains why he and his fiancee Kim are more influential than president Barrack Obama and the First Lady, Michelle Obama. Kanye tells Ryan Seacrest;

"There’s no way Kim Kardashian shouldn’t be on the cover of Vogue. She’s like the most intriguing woman right now. She’s got Barbara Walters calling her like everyday.”

“And collectively, we’re the most influential with clothing. No one is looking at what [Barack Obama] is wearing. Michelle Obama cannot Instagram a [bikini] pic like what my girl Instagrammed the other day.”

TV presenter, Tracy Nwapa, launches hair line in partnership with Lo'lavita

Tracy Nwapa, TV presenter & producer is not only known for her brilliance with the clothes she wears, but in her signature hair style. Tracy in partnership with Lo'lavita hair have now given away "Tracy's hair secret" to every woman out there.

Do you have trouble finding affordable hair that is suitable for your lifestyle? Do you love to wear hair extensions without leaving your hair out but you still want to achieve that natural effect? Do you love to experiment with colour, but you are afraid of damaging your natural hair?

If you answered yes to all these questions, then Trayciee’s pieces by Lo’lavita hair is for you!

Trayciee’s pieces by Lo’lavita hair are costumed GLUELESS lace wigs made with hard net lace technology designed to blend in with your natural hair line without the use of glue.

Too good to be true?

Watch TV personality Tracy, so you know how it’s done in the commercial and tutorial video below:

To order yours today, visit Lo’lavita hair and beauty boutique at 20 Admiralty was Lekki Phase 1 Lagos or call 08025275898. Lo'lavita hair ships worldwide!

Women gather at Federal Secretariat in support of Aviation Minister

A small group of women this morning gathered at the Federal Secretariat in Abuja, in support of embattled minister of Aviation, Ms Stella Oduah. The women carried placards which read 'a fight against Stella Oduah is a fight against women'. Erm, I don't think so! See more exclusive photos after the cut...

London museum revives the dead

LONDON, UK — Even in death, a body tells the story of its life. Yellow-stained fingers indicate a cigarette habit. Bruises on the lower legs reveal the clumsy stumbling of an alcoholic. Tattoos and teeth can speak volumes about their owners’ fortunes, losses and loves.
As a pathology technician and former mortician, Carla Valentine’s career has been about reconstructing lives and deaths based on such physical evidence left behind.
It was ideal preparation for her current role as assistant technical curator at Barts Pathology Museum in central London.
That’s a benign title for what has to be one of this city’s most unusual jobs: the daily care of 5,000 human organs and tissues housed in glass jars and acrylic cases in an airy Victorian atrium in St. Bartholomew’s Hospital.
The earliest specimens date from the 1750s; the last were accepted in the 1970s. There are gout-afflicted toes, punctured scalps and everything in between.
Since taking over the daily maintenance of the long-neglected collection, Valentine has reorganized its shelves and replaced some of the aging jars, or pots. She’s also made it her mission to reconstruct the stories of the living, breathing humans to whom those organs once belonged.
“It’s not just about the science or the humanities,” says Valentine, a 32-year-old Liverpool native. “It’s about the people behind the pots.”
Some specimens reveal as much about society as pathology. The museum holds the gnarled mass of an 18th-century scrotum afflicted with squamous cell carcinoma, also known as “chimney sweep’s cancer.”
That first recorded industrial-related cancer originated in the scrotum, where carcinogenic soot became trapped in the folds of skin before progressing through the groin and abdomen en route to a painful death.
From a case in the back of the room peers the skull of John Bellingham, whose punishment for assassinating Prime Minister Spencer Perceval in 1812 was to be hanged and dissected for medical purposes.
An opposite shelf holds the jaw of a 14-year-old boy whose head became trapped in a printing press in 1886, a relic of Britain’s dark industrial history.
Some of the specimens provide chilling reminders of modern medicine’s evolution: a brain violated with an ice pick in a frontal lobotomy, a stomach exploded from Victorian-era anesthesia.
Fashion also leaves scars. A tiny mangled foot in a glass jar belonged to a Chinese woman subjected to foot binding. The liver of a 52-year-old woman who died in 1907 bears a prominent dent from a lifetime of tight corsets.
Others simply offer poignant glimpses into lost lives. A pair of hands face outward from a case on the second floor, the wrists delicately encircled with wire. They belonged to a depressed 59-year-old mechanic who took his own life in a bathtub. The fingers still grasp the wire’s end.
Valentine spends most of her days alone with the specimens. She’s grown fond of many of them, particularly those whose story she’s pieced together.
“A lot of them become like people to me,” she says. “It’s much more companionable than being out with live people on the Tube,” she adds of the city’s subway system.
People sometimes contact Valentine to confirm their belief that certain specimens belonged to family members. Some ask to visit the organs: an amputated leg, a hand, several different fetuses.
Although she’s tried, she hasn’t yet been able to verify the identities in any such cases.
The only catalogue Valentine found when she arrived was a collection of leather binders dating from the 1970s. They contain little information for each specimen beyond an identification number and sometimes a few dates or notes.
Pathology museums such as the one at St. Barts used to be common features at medical schools. The museum was a busy teaching site for a century, when medical students examined the evidence of disease and procedures gone wrong.
As teaching technologies changed and maintenance funds dried up, the room fell into disrepair.
A 1990s scandal at a hospital where hundreds of organs were removed from dead children without the parents’ consent turned the public against the use of human specimens for teaching. Many British pathology collections were destroyed.
For most of the 2000s, St. Barts’s three-story atrium opened by the future King Edward VII in 1879 remained locked, its specimens “untouched and unloved,” says Paola Domizio, the museum’s curator.
Valentine was hired two years ago in the hope of salvaging the collection and eventually opening it to the public.
She reorganized the neglected and leaking specimens, repotted some herself and peeled away the industrial carpet tiles to reveal a gleaming wooden floor. The museum now occasionally opens for special events, and there’s an ongoing effort to raise funds to open it to the public.
British law governs the public viewing of human remains, and the museum will need a special license to admit visitors to the whole collection. At the moment, all specimens less than 100 years old must be stored on the upper floors, which remain closed to visitors.
Domizio argues that despite its seeming anachronism, the collection remains vitally important to the medical profession.
“Would anyone suggest that a car mechanic qualify without ever seeing or handling an engine part?” she says. Disposing of the collection, as many universities have done, she adds, “would be the ultimate betrayal of the individuals who donated their gifts.”
More from GlobalPost: Tough times for fish and chips
Despite clear signs that the museum isn’t open to the public, people knock constantly asking to visit: former hospital employees who remember the room’s heyday, curious passersby who have read about the collection, Sherlock Holmes fans.
The latter can be particularly aggressive. Author Arthur Conan Doyle set the first meeting between his famous fictional detective and his sidekick Dr. Watson in the laboratory of an unnamed London hospital that many fans believe is based on St. Barts.
Several weeks ago, an American man dressed head-to-toe in a Sherlock Holmes costume barged into Valentine’s office — proof, she says, that dealing with the living can sometimes be odder than handling the dead.
“The dead cause me no problems," she says, "and they never have.”

NPF says this pic of an ACP fondling a lady's boobs is photoshopped

The photo above went viral last week. It shows a senior police officer believed to be an Assistant Commissioner of Police fondling the boobs of a light skinned lady. The Nigerian Police Force released a statement via their Facebook page a few days ago claiming the pic is Photoshopped. It doesn't look Photoshopped to me. Looks like the lady took the photo herself...

Deeper Life's Pastor Kumuyi builds N1b Anchor University campus

The General Overseer of Deeper Life Bible Ministries, Pastor William Kumuyi is currently building an untra modern campus for his N1billion private university called Anchor University.

The proposed site for the campus is a vast expanse of land, which has already been fenced, along the Lagos/Ibadan Express way. The campus will serve as the permanent site of Anchor University whose main campus is sited inside Deeper Life's multibillion IBTC headquarters at Ayobo-Ipaja, Lagos.

The new campus will include hostels, faculties, administrative blocks, chalets, laboratories etc.

Forbes releases World's Most Powerful list, puts Putin ahead of Obama

Forbes just released its World's Most Powerful People list and put Russian president Vladamir Putin ahead of US president Barack Obama. That's wack! They also said Dangote is more powerful than President Goodluck Jonathan. Dangote was placed 64th most powerful person in the world, Jonathan didn't make the list. See the rest after the cut...

Broken promises ended Oprah's friendship with the Obamas?

Ever wondered why Oprah campaigned for Barrack Obama in 2008 but not in 2012? Insiders claim Barack and Michelle broke promises to Oprah Winfrey leading to a bitter rift between them...

From The NY Post

"Everyone remembers that Oprah went all out for Obama during the 2008 presidential election. What was not reported was that, in return, Oprah was promised unique access to the White House if Obama won. She’d get regular briefings on initiatives and a heads-up on programs to give her material for her fledgling cable network, OWN.

“Oprah intended to make her unique White House access a part of her new network,” a source close to Oprah told me. “There were big plans, and a team was put together to come up with proposals that would have been mutually beneficial. “But none of that ever happened. Oprah sent notes and a rep to talk to Valerie Jarrett, but nothing came of it. It slowly dawned on Oprah that the Obamas had absolutely no intention of keeping their word and bringing her into their confidence.”

Oprah did not campaign for Obama in the 2012 race, and she has been absent from his battles on gun control, immigration reform and the environment. She claims she is too busy to get involved in politics, even though she hosted a fund-raiser for Newark Mayor Cory Booker, who won a US Senate seat last week.

Oprah’s friends publicly dismiss the idea that she had a falling out with Obama. They note that she phoned Michelle Obama right after the 2012 election to congratulate her. They say Michelle invited her to have dinner with the first family. But the dinner never took place, and Oprah continues to be frozen out.

“Oprah was hoping there would be a genuine change in the atmospherics,” one of her friends told me. “But there hasn’t been. Clearly, she is being rebuffed at the level of Michelle and Valerie. And, just as obviously, President Obama hasn’t interfered on Oprah’s behalf.” During Obama’s first term, I argued in my book “The Amateur” that Michelle was jealous of Oprah, furious that he was seeking her advice.

“For her part, Oprah doesn’t like being with Michelle, because the first lady is constantly one-upping the president and anybody else around her,” said an Oprah adviser. “Oprah has struck back by banning the Obamas from her O, The Oprah Magazine . . . It probably hurts Oprah more than Obama, who, if he had his head screwed on straight, would have flown to California and begged Oprah to help him save ObamaCare.

“But Obama hasn’t budged, and neither has Oprah. She’s hurt and angry, and I seriously doubt that Oprah will ever make up with the Obamas. She knows how to hold a grudge.

Tchidi Chikere moves in with Nuella Njubigbo as ex-wife finds love again

According to a new report by City People magazine this week, actress Nuella Njubigbo & Nollywood movie producer Tchidi Chikere have moved in together. Nuella, who has been dating Tchidi since before he divorced his actress wife Sophia Chikere, moved out of her Okota family home and moved into a new house with Tchidi at Graceland Estate in Ajah.

The couple reportedly moved in together a few months ago and are still decorating their new home. After reading this report I contacted Nuella's people to confirm the story and they said they have no comment on the matter. Nuella is known to vehemently deny reports if not true, she ain't denying this.

Meanwhile, Tchidi's ex-wife Sophia Chikere has also moved on. The mother-of-three is currently dating a UK based businessman. See their loved up pics after the cut...