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Februari 25, 2018

Welcome to Nollywood Times

INEC Working Hard To Rig 2019 Polls - Secondus Reveals

Posted: 24 Feb 2018 04:33 PM PST

INEC Working Hard To Rig 2019 Polls - Secondus Reveals

Prince Uche Secondus, the National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), yesterday, reiterated their stand that the INEC is working so hard to rig the 2019 general elections in favour of the ruling APC.

The cahirman also stated that the PDP are in full support of the National Assembly's position on elections sequence, saying there was nothing wrong in the new order where presidential election would come last.


Secondus  made these disclosures at the PDP Board of Trustees (BoT) meeting yesterday in Abuja. The chairman added that the opposition party would use its strength to resist any form of rigging in 2019.
"We want Nigerians to know that INEC is doing everything to rig elections in 2019. It happened in 2015 and we will not allow it to happen in 2019.
Why are they registering underage Nigerians?

"We are determined and have resolved to resist all the illegalities in this country. This is the right time for those who left our party to come back.
The APC is not a party; they have failed in virtually all sectors.

"Today, Nigerians are not safe; there are killings here and there.
This government is misleading Nigerians that some of the 94 kidnapped girls in Yobe are rescued; but we got reliable information that they have not been rescued. We ask Buhari to ensure that our girls are rescued," Secondus added.
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Chief Oyegun Replies Tinubu's Letter

Posted: 24 Feb 2018 04:09 PM PST

Chief Oyegun Replies Tinubu's Letter

Chief John Odigie-Oyegun the National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), in a letter responding to the letter of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu to President Buhari accusing the chairman of being on the way of the reconciliation bid in the party. 

Oyegun, in the two paragraph letter dated February 23, 2018 did not however touch on the issues raised in the Tinubu's letter, assured Asiwaju of his full support.

See the two paragraph letter as shared by the Nation:
A copy of the two paragraphed letter sited by The Nation reads: "I thank you for your letter dated February 21, 2018, for your prayers and good wishes for my health. I wish you the same and pray that our good God keeps you strong and grants you His peace.

"Let me once again formally congratulate you on the peace making assignment Mr. President has entrusted you with. It is most challenging but I believe you will ultimately justify the confidence reposed in you by Mr. President. In this you have my fullest support.

"Be assured, dear Asiwaju, of my highest regards now and always"
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Shehu Sani Sued By El-rufai For Defamation; Seek N2 Billion Compensation

Posted: 24 Feb 2018 03:44 PM PST

Shehu Sani Sued By El-rufai  For Defamation; Seek N2 Billion Compensation

Mallam Nasir El-rufai, Governor of Kaduna state, has filed a N2 billion suit against Senator Shehu Sani for libel.

The suit according to a reliable information was filed in a Kaduna State High court on Friday, seeking reliefs for injuries allegedly suffered as a result of "malicious statements" in the media by Senator Sani.

The Governor in the suit claims that Sani made malicious statements through the media to humiliate and assassinate his character adding that Sani called him a "drunk, loose cannon and an embarrassment to President Muhammadu Buhari".

El-rufai among other things demands a public declaration from Senator Shehu Sani that the damaging remarks made against him were false. 

 The counsel to El-Rufai, Abdulhakeem Mustapha, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), in a chat with the press, shortly after filling the suit, dismissed insinuations that the governor, by virtue of his position did not have the constitutional right to sue any citizen.

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A Nigerian Man Arrested In Bangkok Over Cocaine Dealings

Posted: 24 Feb 2018 03:11 PM PST

A Nigerian Man Arrested In Bangkok Over Cocaine Dealings

A Nigerian man who is allegedly an international hard drug dealer in cocaine has been arrested by Thai police in collaboration with US Drug Enforcement Agency.

The man identified as Emmanuel Okwudili Ilichukwu was arrested on Thursday, February 22  in Suksawat Soi 26 on two warrants.

The operatives led by deputy tourist police commissioner Surachet Hakpal raided his property where they found a quantity of cocaine in a food cupboard.

Surachet while addressing the media disclosed that the Thais had been working with the DEA to arrest the Nigerian, who had been on their watch but had managed to evade arrest.

He had made frequent trips from Bangkok to Nigeria and was involved in packaging cocaine in plastic and hiding it in electrical appliances, Surachet added.

The drugs found with him are on their way to Australia and New Zealand.

Mr. Surachet revealed that he was using Bangkok as his operational base. He further stated that he has been charged with possession and intent to distribute a class 2 drug (cocaine).

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Tinubu's Full Text Letter To Buhari About Oyegun/APC Crisis Emerges

Posted: 24 Feb 2018 02:20 PM PST

Tinubu's Full Text Letter To Buhari About Oyegun/APC Crisis Emerges

Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu recently wrote a letter to President Muhammadu Buhari complaining about the interference of APC national chairman, John Oyegun, in his re-conciliatory moves  has emerged. See the full text below as share online:


Tinubu had on Wednesday in a letter, accused Oyegun of sabotaging his efforts to reconcile aggrieved APC members.

The letter dated February 21, 2018, was addressed to President Buhari, copied to the Vice-President, Yemi Osinbajo, Senate President, Bukola Saraki and Speaker of the House of Reps, Yakubu Dogara.

The Letter, obtained by PoliticsNGR, read;

"I trust that this letter finds you in good health and may that never change. I also hope that you are in an apt frame of mind to read this letter according to the spirit in which it is written and to derive apt counsel from it.

Our party has travelled far in a brief time. To pull and mend the disparate legacy parties into one, we surmounted high obstacles that would have daunted others. To win the election, the then candidate Muhammadu Buhari had to campaign as never before and we, as a party, had to stare down great odds to win.

We held firm to our principles and did not cast our eyes away from the progressive objectives that led us to form this party in the first instance. We kept faith with the best of our ideals and we matched noble ideals to strong effort. We won. Nigeria won.

Sadly, some, who were entrusted with positions of high responsibility within the party seemed unable to handle the success given them. Little attention was tendered the principles upon which this party was formed and pursuant to which it was presented to the public as an alternative to the cynical politics of the PDP (Peoples Democratic Party).

We were born as a party of internal democracy; but our internal institutions have been actively undermined or allowed to atrophy. The spirit of a new and better Nigeria that guided us to unprecedented electoral success has been steadily replaced by the bankrupt and rule-less ways that brought the PDP low.

Since the election, there have been several reports of lack of openness and fairness which have led to internal crisis in some of our states. There have been allegations of self-induced crisis resulting from merchandising of internal processes. We all must agree that the party was bound to suffer growing pains but not to the extent of losing part of the substantial goodwill that brought us to power.

However, that which concerns me has little to do with the manner by which the party is growing. What concerns me is the manner in which the crisis is developing that can lead to serious erosion of party cohesion and confidence. Were I alone in this concern, I would discount my observations as a sign of my own misperceptions or infirmity. However, I stand not alone in this worry. My grief is shared by so many party members that I would not be accused of exaggeration if I said substantial party leaders are worried about the course of our vessel.

I believe it was from this sober concern that President Muhammadu Buhari recently appointed me to lead the consultation, reconciliation and confidence-building efforts in our party. Upon the appointment, I gave the President my word that I would work diligently and objectively to achieve the goal set before me.

In this vein, my first port of call after receiving this assignment was our party's National Secretariat to present myself before the National Working Committee (NWC), with you as one of its members by virtue of your position as Chairman of the party. During my interaction with the NWC, I enjoined its members to freely express their views concerning the state of the party at the national, state and local levels. I listened attentively to the views of every member of the NWC present.

On your part, you promised unalloyed support for my mission. Consonant with that vow, you said you would provide all information at your disposal and you vowed to act as a liaison between me and the state party chapters. At that very meeting, I announced I had formally started the assignment handed me by President Buhari. I offered to keep you abreast of my work. I said that I wanted the NWC to be like an informal advisory council and sounding board to me in the discharge of this presidential mandate.

Unfortunately, the spirit of understanding and of cooperative undertaking to revive the party seems not to have lived beyond the temporal confines of that meeting. I assure anyone who cares to know that this positive spirit of cooperation did not meet its demise at my hands.

My position was and is that we can only restore the party by resolving its current deficiencies in an unbiased, neutral manner that allows us to strengthen our internal democracy by annealing those internal institutions and processes vital to such internal fairness. I stated this position then and still hold to it with all sincerity.

Yet, disappointment greeted me when I discovered that you had swiftly acted in contravention of the spirit of our discussions. Instead of being a bulwark of support as promised, you positioned yourself in active opposition to the goal of resuscitating the progressive and democratic nature of the APC. As a party, we have strived to be the best, present hope for the nation. Yet, your goal appears to be something of a lesser pedigree.

In our discussion, you personally mentioned Kogi, Kaduna, Kano and Adamawa States as places afflicted by serious party issues. Given your assessment, these were states where I believed cooperation between you and I should have been intense and detailed. Instead, you have taken it as your personal mission to thwart my presidential assignment in these key states.

In Kogi, you rushed to the state to unilaterally inaugurate a new slate of state officials, parallel to the officials already heading the state chapter of the party. While this may place you in significant affinity with those parallel officials you handpicked, this machination suggests no improvement in the welfare of the party in Kogi or at the national level. This usurpation of authority exacerbates conflict and confusion; it does not resolve them.

It is my understanding that your dissolution of the duly- constituted state executives and the hurried naming of the above-mentioned caretaker group was not approved by the NWC. This arrogation of power sets you at variance with members of the NWC as evidenced by National Publicity Secretary Malam Bolaji Abdullahi's statement, condemning your improper and unusual action.

You had let this situation fester for months on end. Only when I was appointed to help resolve internal disputes and when you realised I might focus early on Kogi, did you stir from your indifference and inaction. You could have wisely and prudently treated this matter beforehand. By waiting to the last moment, your unilateral action was implemented in haste and unbalanced in thought. By creating a parallel body, you not only acted improperly, you grew a second problem from the stem where previously there had sprouted but one.

The Kaduna State chapter apparently has been troubled by disputes over who the party recognises as acting chairman for the state. The dispute has at times degenerated to the point where there purportedly has been demolition of property and the threat of violence.

This eruptive state of affairs is a direct and proximate result of the inability of the party under your leadership to follow the dictates of the party constitution and regulations to arrive at a result that all may agree was rendered objectively, in harmony with the principles by which this party was founded.

While everyone may not be pleased with the result, all contestants would acknowledge that the process had been fair and neutral. In this way, rancour is contained and reconciliation more easily achieved.

Because this matter has been left to fester, positions have hardened and intrigue and animosity are more the authors of the day than unity, compromise and cooperation. It is always better to repair the crack before it becomes a hole and the hole before it becomes a gap. You did neither in this instance. Yet, you lifted not a finger to honour your vow to provide information and contacts to help me do this important repair.

After my interaction with the NWC and given the urgency of the work needed to mend and heal the party, you should have presented the status reports on state party chapters as promised, and certainly without much delay. Your reportage is vital to my work. Your delay in not reporting on a single state chapter now delays and threatens my assignment.

Mr. Chairman, I cannot overstate the imperatives of time in this regard just as I cannot overstate the need for cooperation and to work in accordance with the formal rules and ways of our party.

Yet, something else is afoot and I must draw attention to it so that we can end the malpractice before it impairs the party and my assignment any further. Drawing from your behaviour in Kogi, Kaduna and with regard to the state chapter assessment requested, I am led to the inference that you have no intention of actually supporting my assignment.

Instead, you apparently seek to undermine my mandate by engaging in dilatory tactics for the most part. When forced to act, you do so in an arbitrary and capricious manner, without the counsel of other NWC members and without regard to our internal procedures.

You may have personal qualms with me. That is your right as a human being. However, you have no such right as the chairman of this party. This party belongs to all of its members. You have no greater claim on it than any of the rest of us. Whatever personal qualms you may have with me are secondary at this point. You have a moral and professional obligation as the party chairman to act in the party's best interests. Your hurried and unilateral actions belie the important agency you hold for the party.

Thus, in furtherance of the assignment given to me by President Buhari, I request that you make available to me the status reports and all other pertinent information regarding the state chapters without further delay.

Also, to lessen animosity and return the party to the path of internal democracy and openness, I beg that you refrain from taking any more improper unilateral decisions with regard to the national and state chapters of the party. As the chairman of the party, you must work within the confines of the duties and responsibilities enumerated under the party constitution. You must not stretch beyond them.

If you continue to do so, I fear you may undermine the party in no small degree. You may well cause internal fractures and dissension difficult to repair yet visible to all. I fear this can undermine our goodwill with the electorate and make the approaching challenges to the party materially more difficult than they need to be.

As chairman of this party, you should not want this to be your legacy. As a member of this party from its inception, I don't want this to happen to the party and I don't want such an awful thing to be your legacy.

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Dr. Ali Bukar Maina Developed An Algorithm For Finding Missing People

Posted: 24 Feb 2018 02:07 PM PST

Dr Maina: A Nigerian Scientist Who Developed An Algorithm For Finding Missing People Granted Interview recently:



The story last year of a Nigerian based in the UK, a scientists at the University of Bradford in England, who developed an algorithm which could help in finding missing people was all over the web.

The development was reported by the CNN, BBC, Telegraph, among others. We caught up with the scientist, Dr Ali Bukar Maina, a Nigerian, whose PhD work under Professor Hassan Ugail, led to the exciting innovation. Ali shared the following information with us.


 Tell us about yourself and schools attended

My name is Ali Bukar Maina, from Nguru, Yobe State. I attended Girgiri Primary School Nguru, then Suleja Academy, Niger State (now Federal Government Academy, Suleja) between 1992 and 1998, then did my bachelor's in Electrical and Electronics Engineering at the University of Maiduguri, Nigeria. Thereafter, I did a Diploma in Computing at Jigawa State Institute of Information Technology, an MSc in Software Engineering at the University Aberdeen, Scotland before joining the University of Bradford for a PhD.

What is your area of research?

Computer vision and machine learning

Last year, your story was on CNN and BBC on a facial age progression algorithm you developed, can you tell us about it?

The algorithm was part of my PhD which entails teaching the computer to generate facial images of people at different ages. In simple terms, you feed in a picture, let's say of a 30-year-old person, then the algorithm process it and generates an image of the person at any finite age(e.g. age 50). Alternatively, the algorithm can synthesise that image to a younger age (for instance back to how the person looked at age 20. This has several real-world applications such as the search for missing people. Indeed, the news on BBC and other news media reported our findings with regards to the image processing of Ben Needham, a British toddler who went missing over 20 years ago, till date he has not been found. Our algorithm generated some images of how he may look after all the years he was missing, which would thus make the search efforts easier.

Is this algorithm open source?

No, the algorithm is not open source. We hope to get a patent for it shortly.

Has this work been published in a scientific journal?

Yes, it has been published in the Journal of Forensic Sciences.

Ali M. Bukar, Hassan Ugail. Facial Age Synthesis Using Sparse Partial Least Squares (The Case of Ben Needham). Journal of Forensic Sciences, 2017; DOI: 10.1111/1556-4029.13523

Other improvements to the initial work have further being published as book chapters and conference articles.

What do you think are the other applications of this algorithm?

In addition to finding missing people, the algorithm can be used in the search for fugitives. For instance, in the next 10 or more years, most of the wanted criminals that couldn't be caught will have changed in appearance. The algorithm could track their age progression and generate pictures that could identify them, which could lead to identification and arrests.

Can this type of research be done in Nigeria?

Computer vision and machine learning can be done in Nigeria. What is required is dedication, in-depth understanding of mathematics and programming. Furthermore, to teach (train) the algorithm, one needs a large database of labelled pictures and a powerful computer that would be able to do the training. These are things attainable in Nigeria.

How do you feel developing such a useful tool?

It gave me a sense of accomplishment seeing how mathematical equations that many people could not understand generated images of a person that people could be recognised.

Can you remember how you developed an interest in science?

I developed an interest in science when I was little, thanks to my dad, who has always been my motivator and mentor. He had a book called "Simple Science Experiments" which we used to study along with my siblings and try the experiments. That gave me a strong passion for science and motivated me to pursue it as a career.

Who is your science hero?

Geoffrey Hinton is a scientist I have high respect for. He is one of the most famous researchers in the field of Artificial Intelligence. His work helped kick off the world of deep learning (neural networks). He persisted in what he loved for decades when the whole world thought artificial neural networks made no sense. Today, all the tech giants, like Google, Facebook, Microsoft and their likes are using deep learning to achieve wonders.

What is your advice to young students and junior colleagues?

Hard work, dedication and perseverance are some of the ingredients for success. Rather than studying what will get you a job, pursue the subject you love

Dr Maina's more stories and work can be found via: www.digitaltrends.com/cool-tech/uk-aging-algorithm-missing-person/amp/

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"Elephant Swallowed My Housing Refund?"; A Retired Police Officer Questions

Posted: 24 Feb 2018 03:35 AM PST

"Elephant Swallowed My Housing Refund?"; A Retired Police Officer Questions

Few weeks ago, Nigerians woke up one morning to the news of snake swallowing N30Million naira belonging to JAMB in Benue State, and as if that was not enough, another story of animal, monkeys swallowing N70million naira money of the Northern Governors Forum, in a farm house.

With this kind of stories in mind, a retired police officer is afraid that animal this time an elephant may have swallowed his National Housing Savings.


 This information was shared by a  former Superintendent of Police, Salisu M. Dansarai, via his Facebook page, that five years after leaving the Nigerian Police Force - he is yet to receive his housing refund.

 See what he shared below:

Now that animals have started swallowing money, I'm afraid whether the Elephant on the Nigeria Police logo has swallowed my NHF housing refund. Because, five years after retirement, four years after applying, nothing happened.

Or is it the fault the Federal Mortgage Bank?

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This Plus-Sized Lady Exhibits Flexible Dance Moves

Posted: 24 Feb 2018 02:56 AM PST

This Plus-Sized Lady Exhibits Flexible Dance Moves

A highly endowed lady posted a video of herself via YouTube showing off beautiful and flexible dance steps that will marvel you.  It is a must watch video as you will learn that whatever a slim lady can do, a plus-sized can do also.






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