FOOTBALLER JOHN FASHANU REVEALS HE PAID BROTHER JUSTIN N23m NOT TO COME OUT AS GAY.

JUSTIN FASHANU

JOHN FASHANU

JOHN FASHANU AND DAUGHTER AMAL

Nigerian football star of old, John Fashanu has confessed how he paid his brother, Justin Fashanu also a football star of the 1980s N23,000,000.00 (Seventy five thousand British Pounds) not to come out publicly as a gay so as not to bring embarrassment upon him and his family.

Justin Fashanu was begged and threatened to stay quiet but he came out in an exclusive interview with the Sun newspaper in 1990 to state publicly that he was gay. He was the first black footballer to come out open and was also the first black footballer to earn a one million British Pounds transfer fee when he moved to play in Nottingham Forest F/C in 1981.

John Fashanu states that when Justin first informed him that he was gay and was planning to go public with the announcement, he was shocked and tried to talk him out of it even giving him the money to buy his silence. He was, however, shocked when 2 days later Justin’s interview came out in the Sun newspaper. He says it was a total shock to him and his family.

John Fashanu says this public outing by Justin caused Justin a lot of ridicule from soccer fans who taunted him during matches making him to move to the United States where he played for a number of teams in the wee period of his career. Justin Fashanu would eventually commit suicide.

The impact of Justin’s revelation was much on the family leading also to the death of their mother due to resultant stress.

John Fashanu, however, states that had Justin come out now that the perception of homosexuality is changing in some societies his handling of the situation would have been different. His acknowledges that it was ignorance on his part and in the process he lost his brother.

He credits his change of thinking on the issue of gays to his daughter, Amal Fashanu, a strong advocate of gay rights, who has presented a documentary on gay footballers in 2012. He says she helped him change his thought on homosexuality and speaks in support of her late uncle, Justin Fashanu.

BUHARI SET TO INAUGURATE NIGERIA'S MINISTERS NEXT WEEK.

MINISTERIAL NOMINEES

The news now is no longer that the Nigerian president, Muhammadu Buhari took ages to name his prospective ministers, which really heated up the polity. Neither is the news that the president named many of the same persons that the country is used to seeing in public office from one regime to another and did not make much of a CHANGE that everybody expected in line with his campaign mantra.

MINISTERIAL NOMINEES

Neither is the news that many supposed ministerial hopefuls allegedly fell to the screening exercise by the security authorities and eventually the final screening by the Nigerian senate which also provided its drama.

PRESIDENT MUHAMMADU BUHARI

The NEWS now is that the successful ministerial nominees would be sworn in by President Muhammadu Buhari next week Wednesday, November 4, 2015 and indeed have already been allotted their ministerial portfolios.

While we look ahead with great expectation that their inauguration would bring about speed to governance by the Buhari administration, please drop your comments on if the executive team as it is composed would achieve the CHANGE promised Nigeria by Buhari and his party, All Progressives Congress (APC).

Russian Airliner with 224 People on board Crashes in Sinai, Egypt.

METROJET AIRCRAFT

SINAI PENINSULA

The Egyptian Ministry of Civil Aviation reports that a Russian aircraft, flight no. KGL9268, carrying more than 220 people crashed today, Saturday, October 31. 2015 in the Sinai Peninsula, Egypt about 20 minutes from takeoff at a Red Sea resort highly patronized by Russian tourists.

The chairman of the Egyptian government company that runs the country’s civilian airports said it had been confirmed that all passengers and crew on the plane were Russians.

The spokesman of the Egyptian government stated that though it yet not possible to know whether there are any survivors on board the plane which had 217 passengers and seven crew members the government had sent 50 ambulances and relevant security and emergency services the site of the crash to render medical and other remedial care needed.

Egyptian government official sources said the country’s military search and rescue teams had discovered the wreckage of the passenger jet in the Hassana area south of the city of el-Arish which is in an area in northern Sinai where Egyptian armed forces are battling a rising insurgency by Islamic militants led by a local group loyal to the extremist Islamic State group.

However, the militants in northern Sinai are not known to have ever shot down any commercial airliners or fighter-jets though it has been alleged that they have acquired Russian shoulder-fired, anti-aircraft missiles but this weapons are not effective against high flying aircraft.

The plane involved in today’s crash is believed to be an Airbus model and took off at about 6 a.m. for St. Petersburg in Russia and could not be seen on the radar screens 23 minutes after it take off. The authorities believe the time lapse between takeoff and loss of contact with the aircraft point to a likelihood that the plane was cruising at an altitude of some 30,000 feet before it went down.

The Egyptian authorities first released information that the plane had briefly lost contact but was now safely in Turkish airspace. They later confirmed that the plane has crashed and that the pilot before he lost contact reported that the aircraft was having technical problems. The pilot had also said that he intended to try landing at the nearest airport. The aircraft would eventually crash near the el-Arish airport. There is still no confirmation of the technical problems that would have led to the crash; this would be possible only after proper investigations including the recovery and analysis of the plane’s red boxes.

The crash may have an effect on Egypt’s tourism business being that several million Russian tourists who make up nearly a third of all visitors visit Egypt yearly touring predominantly the Red Sea resorts in Sinai and mainland Egypt.

We pray for the people involved in the crash and their loved ones they left behind.

97 YEAR OLD GETS HER HIGH SCHOOL DIPLOMA

MARGARET BEKEMA

WALKER Mich. — A 97-year-old woman received her high school diploma, 79 years after she was supposed to graduate.

Margaret Bekema, now living in the Grand Rapids' suburb of Walker, Mich., was forced to drop out of Catholic Central High School in Grand Rapids in her junior year to take care of her family. Her mother had cancer, and she also needed to help with her three younger siblings.

She donned a mortarboard Thursday in front of her friends and family to fulfill her lifelong goal to graduate. School administrators presented her with an honorary diploma at Yorkshire and Stonebridge Manor senior community in Walker.

"After all of these years, representing all of the core values for which our school stands, we proudly recognize Margaret with an official honorary diploma," school Principal Greg Deja said.

Leaving school at age 17 broke her heart, she said, and she’s thankful for the recognition. After her mother died, Bekema did clerical work for the armed forces and eventually became a preschool teacher.

Contributing: The Associated Press

NIGERIA'S CODE OF CONDUCT BUREAU TO DOCK FORMER MINISTER ELDER ORUBEBE

ELDER GODSDAY ORUBEBE

There are plans to bring the former Minister of Niger Delta Affairs in Nigeria, Elder Godsday Orubebe before the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) on November 9, 2015 on charges of false declaration of assets and the receipt of a bribe of N70million.

The Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) is said to have filed a 4 counts charge by Peter Danladi on behalf of the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) as listed below:

Count one: “That you, Godsday Peter Orubebe, while being a Minister of Federal Republic of Nigeria in charge of Niger Delta Affairs, on or about June 29th 2011 did make a false declaration in your asset declaration form by failing to declare plot 2722 Kyamu District Abuja on assumption of office on 26th September 2007 and on leaving office (at the end of your tenure), on June 29, 2011 and you thereby committed an offence under section 15 of Code of Conduct Bureau and Tribunal Act Cap C15 and as incorporated under paragraph 11(1) & (2) of Part 1, Fifth Schedule to the Constitution and punishable under section 23(2) of the CCB & T Act.

Count two: “That you Godsday Peter Orubebe, while being a Minister of Federal Republic of Nigeria in charge of Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs, on or about June 29, 2011 did make a false declaration in your asset declaration form by failing to declare plot 2059 Asokoro district, Abuja on assumption of office on September 26, 2007 and on June 29, 2011 and you thereby committed an offence under section 15 of the CCB & T Act, and punishable under section 23 (2) of the CCB & T Act.

Count three: “That you Godsday Peter Orubebe while being a Minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria in charge of Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs on or about September 19, 2012 asked for and accepted the sum of fifty million naira from one Pastor (Dr) Jonathan Alota, as bribe for the contract awarded in favour of his company, Chemtronics Nigeria Limited and you thereby committed an offence contrary to section 10 of the CCB & T Act, and punishable under Section 23 (2) of CCB & T Act.

Count four: “That you Godsday Orubebe, while being a Minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria in charge of Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs, on or about 2013 asked for and accepted the sum of twenty million naira from one Pastor (Dr.) Jonathan Alota as additional bribe for the contract awarded in favour of his company Chemtronics Nigeria Limited for the construction of skill acquisition Centre at Edo State for the sum of one billion seven hundred and ninety nine million, nine hundred and fourteen thousand two hundred and fifty naira eighty eight kobo only (₦ 1,799,914,251.88K) and you thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 10 of CCB & T Act.”

The CCT’s Head of Press and Public Relations, Ibraheem Al-hassan, has confirmed that charges are pending against Orubebe before the tribunal, he also confirmed that summons were served on the ex-minister on October 29, adding that the tribunal has scheduled November 9, 2015 for Orubebe’s arraignment. The CCB filed the charges on October 8, 2015.

It would be recalled that Elder Orubebe was the center of attention during the collation of the Nigerian presidential election votes by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Tuesday, March 31, 2015 at the International Conference Centre, Abuja venue where he as the agent for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) stopped the exercise momentarily citing bias against the PDP candidate, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan.