Fantasia loses mansion to bank.

Former American Idol singer Fantasia Barrino has allegedly signed her North Carolina mansion to the bank after falling behind on payments.

According to reports the singer gave up her home to avoid foreclosure.

The house, which she had been sharing with her family members and featured on her reality show 'Fantasia', had been on the market since April last year.

“I always want to please everybody, and I want to help everybody and I think that that was draining me – moneywise, mentally. I had to change all of that. I still help people but in a different way. It's not about money," she told people magazine last week.

Despite her personal troubles, the 28-year-old revealed she has a new found confidence and she’s working towards resurrecting her career.

"Everyone was saying how happy they were to see me at this place,” she told People. 

"I think my happiness and peace is now finally showing and so they were all like 'just stay right here,' " Barrino said.

In January, Barrino landed in hot water with fans when she 'seemingly' rallied against same-sex marriage on Instagram.

The singer caused a stir when she posted the comments:  "I Rise ABOVE IT ALL!!! THE WORLD IS GONE MAD. KIDS, THE GOVERNMENT THE church House... Everybody Trying!!!!!!!"

"Its a lot that going on that the Bible speaks about we should Not be doing. Weed legal in some places, Gay Marriage Legal BUT YET IM JUDGED!!! I'm not doing nothing for you... My Life!!!!" she was quoted by BET as saying.

Following backlash from gay rights activists and disapproving fans, the 28-year-old' reps released a statement.

"Comments made by Ms. Barrino through her Instagram account were recently taken far out of context," the rep said in a statement quoted by E! Online.

"Ms. Barrino is not now, nor has she ever been an opponent of the LGBT community. She has supported and performed at numerous events that are sponsored by the LGBT community. Whether it's through a live performance or placement on social media, Ms. Barrino uses every opportunity to reach out and connect with her fans, all of her fans," the rep added.

Barrino is an American singer who started her music career in 2004, when she won the 3rd season of singing competition 'American Idol'.

The mother-of-two has had her fair share of controversies including an alleged suicide attempt in 2010 after she was accused of breaking-up then boyfriend Antwaun Cook' marriage.

Cook and Barrino have a 2-year-old son together named Dallas Xavier.

Leave Former Ministers Alone, Probe Me Instead, Obasanjo Challenges Jonathan.

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has criticised the establishment of an agency to protect oil pipelines and described it as corruption in governance.

The former president also said he is ready for a probe of his eight-year administration instead of the present administration descending on his cabinet ministers.
Mr Obasanjo, who made the criticism at the 50th birthday thanksgiving of former minister of Education, Oby Ezekwesili in Abuja, said he is ready to account for his stewardship.
He said if the present government finds anything wrong with his administration, he would bear the responsibility.

The former President was reacting to the recent moves to probe Mrs Ezekwesili by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offenses Commission (ICPC) and challenge thrown to the former World Bank VP by the presidency to account for her tenure as Minister of Education.
He said, “I have always said this, whatever you want to blame in my government, blame me, don’t blame any of those people who assisted me. If there is any credit to dispense we share it.
“But for anything you want to say is wrong, I was the one in charge and I was in charge.”

Government Officials Meet Nollywood Stars Over N3 Billion Grant.

President Goodluck Jonathan’s project Nollywood, which involves the injection of a N3 billion grant into the Nigerian movie industry, has started as the administrators of the grant held a town hall meeting with heads of the beneficiary industry.
The administrators lead by the Coordinating Minister of the Economy and Minster for Finance, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and the Minister of Tourism, Edem Duke liaised with the heads of the various guilds in the industry on how best to invest this grant during a close door session in Lagos south west Nigeria.

JTF Says Boko Haram Has Special Kidnaping Squad.

The Military Joint Task Force (JTF) has drawn the attention of Maiduguri residents and its environs to a new style of operation being adopted by the radical sect the Boko Haram.

A statement made available to newsmen on Sunday by the spokesman of the JTF Lieutenant Sagir Musa indicates that the sect have resolved to concentrate more on kidnapping than robbery.
The terrorists according to the statement sees kidnapping as more lucrative, less dangerous, and require short time plan to execute hence constituting a special kidnapping squad charge with the responsibility of kidnapping wealthy individuals, politicians, traditional rulers, senior civil servants as well as foreigners.

      The idea to constitute the special kidnaping squad the statement adds was necessitated by the stringing security measures adopted by the JTF which has made it difficult for the hoodlums to conduct successful bank robbery among other criminal activities in the state.
The statement urges residents to be wary of the new tactics and to avoid isolated areas; strangers and friends that have not been in contact for long and to also shun meeting of friends through telephones or the social media.
      While appreciating the level of cooperation between the residents and the JTF, the statement further urges the public to always use its usual telephone lines to alert security agents of any relevant information.
It gave the telephone numbers as; 0806-4174066, 0706-5464012, 0814-2333138 and 0815-4429346.

Court To Hear Al-Mustapha’s Death Sentence Appeal Today.

The Lagos division of the Court of Appeal sitting in Igbosere, Lagos Island, will tomorrow, Monday, hear the appeal filed by Major Hamzat Al-Mustapha, Chief Security Officer (CSO) to the late Head of State, General Sani Abacha, and Lateef Shofolahan, an aide to late business man and the acclaimed winner of the June 12, 1993 presidential election, MKO Abiola, over a death sentence passed on them by Justice Mojisola Dada.

It would be recalled that Justice Dada of the Lagos High Court had on January 30, 2012 convicted and accordingly sentenced the duo “to death by hanging until they are confirmed dead”.
The appellate court, presided over by Justice C.C Nweze had fixed Monday for the hearing of the appeal, after counsel representing both convicts had applied for a regularisation of their briefs of argument.
Lawyer to both appellants, Joseph Daudu and Olalekan Ojo, moving in terms of their motion paper, had both applied for leave to file their appellants brief of arguments and serve same on the respondent, the Lagos State Government.
Both convicts were arraigned in October 1999, on a four-count charge of “conspiracy and murder of Kudirat Abiola on June 4, 1996 along the Lagos/ Ibadan Expressway”.
In their brief of arguments, the appellants submit that the death sentence passed on them was unwarranted.
The duo further argued that the trial court erred in law when it arrived at the conclusion that they conspired to kill Kudirat on June 4, 1996.
Messrs Al-mustapha and Shofolahan are therefore urging the appellate court to entertain their appeal, set aside the judgement, and discharge and acquit them accordingly.
Mr Al-Mustapha’s appeal was premised on four grounds, while that of Mr Shofolahan was hinged on five grounds.

NCAA Suspends GOV.Amaechi’s Plane From Ever Flying Again.

The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) has grounded the plane of River state governor; Mr Rotimi Amaechi, for the expiration of its operating license. 
The plane which was on Friday temporarily grounded in Akure, the Ondo state capital by NCAA for the inability of the pilot to provide the manifest of the plane, has now been suspended from flying again.
The Acting Director General of NCAA, Joyce Nkemakolam, at a press conference on Saturday, described her address as the “status of the controversial aircraft operated by governor Amaechi.”
“The controversial aircraft on the service of Governor Rotimi Amaechi is operating illegally in the country” the NCAA boss stated.

According to Mrs Nkemakolam “the aircraft, a bombardier –BD700, global express with registration no N565 RS has its clearance approval expired since Tuesday, April 2nd, 2013.”
“By our records, the last flight clearance for this aircraft was approved for operation on Thursday, March 28, 2013 on Accra-PH –Accra and to terminate on April 2, 2013. With this development, the aircraft has exceeded the extra two days or 48 hours leeway for it to leave the country.”
The NCAA boss further noted that “while still operating illegally, the aircraft has been sighted in several places including Owerri and Akure.”
“The owner of this aircraft according to the certificate of registration is Bank of Utah, trustee of Salt Lake City, Utah USA. The clearance for the aircraft was sought by Cavernton Helicopters on March 27, 2013.”
“Consequently, this aircraft in reference is hereby grounded at any airport that is located right now in the country” she announced.

Meanwhile, reacting to the suspension of the plane in Akure, the Rivers state government in a press statement by the Chief Press Secretary to the state governor, David Iyofor explained that the pilot of the plane in question did all that was required of him by the management of the Akure airport just as he did in all the other airports they used before landing at the Akure airport.

Iyofor further stated that the governor’s spokesperson maintained that the decision of the Controller of the Akure Airport to ground the bombardier jet over issues relating to customs papers infuriated the pilot and he enquired on whose orders the plane was grounded, he was asked to contact the managing director of NAMA.

Mr Iyofor described NAMA’s explanation as blatant lies and challenged the agency and aviation authorities to explain to Nigerians why an aircraft belonging to the Rivers state government which flew the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Aminu Tambuwal as well as an elected governor of a state who is also the chairman of the Nigerian governors’ forum  would be grounded  at an airport for no just cause.

Over One Million 2013 UTME Candidates May Not Gain Admission.

The Federal Government of Nigeria has said that over one million candidates sitting for the University Tertiary Matriculation Examinations (UTME) may not gain access into the tertiary institutions.

The Minister of Education, Ruqayyatu Rufai told a news conference in Abuja that current carrying capacity of tertiary institutions across the country is only about five hundred thousand which cannot cater for the 1.7million candidates sitting for the UTME.
Professor Rufai, who bemoaned the grossly inadequate number of universities in the country, appealed for more public private partnerships for the establishment of more institutions to increase access to university education in Nigeria.
Every year, the growing number of students who enrol for admission into tertiary institutions becomes alarming; the evidence is shown by the number of students siting for this year’s Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB)’s examination.
JAMB announced that over 1.7million candidates registered for the UTME, an increase of 13.35percent compared to last years. But the main worry here is that there is only space for one-third of this population, the remaining candidates who have passed may never get admitted.watch the video here..http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=qGlYa_9vNqo,Good luck to all Jambites.