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The prestigious African Magic Viewers Choice Awards #AMVCA2015 held last night and it was filled with poise and pageantry. 

...here is the Full Winners List –
1.       Best Actor in a Comedy: Femi Jacobs for The Meeting.
2.       Best Actress in a Comedy: Rita Dominic for The Meeting.
3.       Best Actor in a Drama: OC Ukeje for Confusion Na Wa.
4.       Best Actress in a Drama: Kehinde Bankole for October 1.
5.       Best Art Director (Movie/ TV): Pat Nebo for October 1.
6.       Best Cinematographer (Movie/ TV): Stanlee Ohikhuare for Verdict.
7.       Best Comedy Writer (Movie/ TV): Tunde Babalola for The Meeting.
8.       Best Costume Designer (Movie/ TV): Deola Sagoe & Obijie Oru for October 1.
9.       Best Documentary: Yvonne Bassey for The Gift of The Nile.
10.   Best Drama Writer (Movie/ TV): Tunde Babalola for October 1.
11.   Best Lighting Designer: Lanre Omofaiye for October 1.
12.   Best Local Language Hausa: Hafizu Bello & Abubakar Bashir for Bincike.
13.   Best Local Language Igbo: Obi Emelonye for Onye Ozi (The Messenger).
14.   Best Local Language Swahili: Sarika Hemi Lakhani for Veve.
15.   Best Local Language Yoruba: Fathia Balogun for Iya Alalake.
16.   Best Make: Up Artist: Sacred Lola Maja for October 1.
17.   Best Movie (Comedy): Mildred Okwo & Rita Dominic for The Meeting.
18.   Best Movie (Drama): Steve Gukas for A Place in The Stars.
19.   Best Movie Director: Kunle Afolayan for October 1.
20.   Best New Media – Online: Imoh Umoren For Hard Times.
21.   Best Movie of 2014: Kunle Afolayan for October 1.
22.   Best Short Film: Ekene Mekwunye for Oblivious.
23.   Best Sound Editing: Kulanen Ikyo For October 1.
24.   Best Video Editor: Victoria Akujobi for Reflections.
25.   Best Supporting Actress: Linda Ejiofor for The Meeting.
26.   Best Supporting Actor: Blossom Chukwujekwu for Knocking on Heavens Door.
27.   Best Television Series: Georgia Arnold for Shuga

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Now this is the height!

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Mr. Aondowase Chia, the Benue Commissioner for Rural Development and Cooperatives has passed away recently at the age of 46.
‎
It was reported by Nigerian newspapers that he died early on Wednesday, the 4th of March 2015.

He is believed to have died of stroke. On March 3, he had presented his ministry's budget for 2015 before the Benue State House of Assembly without showing any signs of illness.

When he returned to his office, he was unable to stand from his chair and was speedily taken to the Benue State University Teaching Hospital in Makurdi, where he passed away.

It will be recalled that in one of his healthy moments, Aondowase Chia described APC presidential candidate Muhammadu Buhari as 'quarter to go.'

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This morning, as I looked through my calendar I realised that the International Women Day is today! Then, I began to think about the women in my life – their impact in my life and how well I have appreciated them for the multiple roles they have played. First on the list is my mother, it occurred to me that I have never really written about my mother, though she is late now, but I barely spend a day without thinking about her. 

While alive, I fondly called her "moimi", a sizzling way of calling "mummy mi" (in Yoruba) which means my mother. That is my own way of personalizing her; she is mine and no one else's. As I reminisced over the different roles she played in my life and the vacuum her departure created, I was moved to tears. If there is nothing I can do for her in death, there is a lot I can do for the mothers alive, hence this article. I grew up in a family of three, my elder sister, my younger brother and I. My mother was a disciplinarian, a no-nonsense kind of woman – one who frowns at indiscipline, laziness, carelessness and any other thing that can be considered evil for a child to do. But within this encapsulation lie a caring, workaholic and enterprising mother. 

While growing up, I can't really remember washing my dirty clothes; she was always there to do the laundry with the assistance of my sister. She never allowed us wear a cloth twice even when everything looks clean. She never patronized a "drycleaner", she did the laundry for every member of the family, except my sister who by custom does her laundry herself and carry out other domestic chores. I really did not appreciate all these until I started washing my clothes upon her demise. I realized how difficult a task it is, washing clothes with hands that were only accustomed to eating and writing. At a much older age, I got used to giving out my dirty wears to "drycleaners" (especially when the lazy me comes to life) who charge exorbitantly for every item washed. Those tasks I considered ignorable now take a huge chunk of my slim take-home pay. 

As a child growing up in an impoverished society, my love for food was unparalleled. Spending the early part of my childhood in the village had already built a "gourmand" in me. Living in the village availed me unlimited access to anything edible – from free falling fruits, roasted corns to well-rounded balls of "eba", no thanks to the generosity of my late grandmother. On returning to the city, my increasing appetite was well satisfied by my mother. She would spend hours in the kitchen, cooking for the family and at times relatives and family friends, and of course with the help of my sister. I was never allowed near the cooking stove and of course the cooking pot. Often times, I complained bitterly, albeit silently over late cooking and delayed meals, and wished we had a cooking machine or any other thing that could make the cooking faster. I failed to value the effort she put into turning ordinary rice grains into delicious plate of fried rice and chicken until I started eating half-cooked rice in those "Mama Put" canteens and "concoction rice" in my little closet. 

My mother was very enterprising. In fact, anything enterprising about me was gotten from her. Despite not completing her secondary school education, she was very good at business management and customer relations. At different times, she was a clothier, trader and restaurateur. I could recall her, waking up in the wee hours of the morning; carrying out domestic chores and setting out for the business of the day. She would close from her shop early, much earlier than her male competitors to prepare dinner for us. And this was her routine for many years. My mother was many things to me – she was first my mother, and then my friend, fan, counsellor, teacher, cook, washer man, nurse, and also wife to my father. She was a typical African woman. She went through all that thousands of mothers go through every day. Many of the day-to-day tasks she carried out constitute what is called "Unpaid care work". 

Unpaid care work includes all those activities that go towards caring for a household such as cooking, cleaning, collecting water and firewood, caring for the ill, elderly and children, carried out by family members without pay. In this part of the world, women carry out more than eighty percent of unpaid care work. My mother and sister did basically everything that can be called "work" in the house. I was occasionally called up to sweep the floors which I always do to the chagrin of my mother whose thirst for cleanliness can never be met by anyone except her. 

Our society undermines the time and effort expended by women on taking care of the home while the actions and inactions of government and other policymakers continue to widen the inequality gap that exist between men and women. There is a high opportunity cost for every work done by women in the house. The hours spent in the kitchen, laundry room, farm, stream and market could have been spent assessing education, employment and other activities capable of emancipating them from poverty, economic dependence and ignorance. And then these efforts are oftentimes not appreciated. I have seen men who have instituted a master-servant relationship between themselves and their wives. The wife does all the cooking and they do all the eating. And then they boastfully and unashamedly affirm that women get the reward for all their hard labours in bed – sexual satisfaction they say. 

The burden of unpaid care work places the Nigerian woman in a more precarious situation. After competing with the more advantaged men in the workspace or marketplace, they return home to another round of energy sapping works. There is little or no time for leisure and recreation. The chances of Nigerian women rising above the poverty line are far slimmer than the men. While the men think about how to make money and pursue money-making ideas, most women are pre-occupied with thoughts of what to cook, what the kids will wear to school the next morning, and most times, how to manage the stipend left for family upkeep. 

There is a lot we can do to make life better for these women. We can begin to recognize their efforts and appreciate their impact in our lives, and provide compensation where possible. However, this compensation should not be given as "pity gift" but as a seed of empowerment. We can also commit to redistributing unpaid care work among household members. Men can take up chores popularly regarded as women's and share tasks fairly among male and female children. It is not enough for us to tell the women in our lives how much we love them every now and then, it is more important for us to translate that professed love into actions that would give them a huge relief and alleviate their sufferings. 

Governments must also recognize unpaid care work as a crucial economic activity central to our survival and prosperity as a nation. The burden of unpaid care work would be more reduced if government provides adequate and functional public facilities particularly those connected to the day-to-day activities of women and other active care givers in the society. Availability of good roads and bridges would mean that women would not have to trek long distances to access their farmlands and market for their produce. Stable power supply would avail women the opportunity to run labour-saving machines and manage their homes more efficiently. The presence of functional and accessible public healthcare facilities in communities would reduce the time women spend in taking care of sick family members and have more time for productive activities. 

My mother enjoyed the full support of my father. He admired her enterprising disposition and gave her the much needed support. While she failed at some business endeavours, he never reneged on his commitment to her empowerment. That is the kind of husband I want to be to my future wife; showing her love and supporting her dreams and more importantly sharing the burden of unpaid care work. 

When we empower women, we empower humanity. Please let us make it happen! Happy International Women's Day!
 
Ewebiyi Keye James
Tel: +234 (0) 7064981943 , +234 (0) 8088902609
Email: keyeewebiyi@yahoo.com, keyeewebiyi@gmail.com
Twitter: @Keyestine l FB: www.facebook.com/ewebiyikeye
Skype: Keyestine  l Blog: keyeewebiyi.blogspot.com l Instagram: Kekstar1 Google+: google.com/+EwebiyiKeyeJames

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The US Secret Service locked down the White House Saturday after a loud noise was heard as reporters gathered to await President Barack Obama and wife Michelle's departure for Selma, Alabama, a pool report said.
The source of the noise was unclear.
A Secret Service K9 unit was investigating a vehicle on 16th and Constitution Avenue which borders the South Lawn of the White House, agency spokesman Brian Leary said in an email.
The Washington DC Fire Department, meanwhile, reported a fire at a food cart on 15th Street NW on the east side of the White House. It said the fire was put out.
Security personnel shut down access to the White House, roping off Lafayette Park on the White House's northern side.
"As pool and other press gathered outside near the South Lawn for the departure of President Obama and the First Family on the way to Selma, Ala., for a historic 50th anniversary march, a loud noise was heard," a pool report said.
"The Secret Service then moved press back into the briefing room and locked the doors," it added.
Subsequent pool reports said the presidential motorcade left the White House and at 11:36 am Obama, Michelle, their daughters Malia and Sasha and Michelle's mother, Marian Robinson, departed for Selma aboard Air Force One.

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The Peoples Democratic Party Presidential Campaign Organisation on Saturday ridiculed the All Progressives Congress over what it described as its flopped one-million-man-march in Lagos, saying the party and its leader, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu have lost control of Lagos State.

Director of Media and Publicity of the PDPPCO, Mr. Femi Fani-Kayode, said that "the fact that what the APC boasted would be a one-million-man march could only attract about 10,000 persons is a reflection of the pitiful state of delusion that they are suffering from."

Fani-Kayode added, "They (APC and Tinubu) have lost touch with reality and with the people of the state over whom they have maintained a wicked and ungodly economic and political stranglehold for all of 16 years.‎
"But the people of Lagos have now seen through their deception and have decided to reject them at the polls this time."

Fani-Kayode dismissed the claim by the Osun State governor, Mr. Rauf Aregbesola on the occasion that President Goodluck Jonathan has failed, like the Biblical Jonah, to deliver God's message as the propagation of falsehood and another propaganda flip.
He said, "What does Aregbesola know about the Bible? President Jonathan has performed excellently. His Transformation Agenda is a divine message with which our nation is being daily developed and the transformation is manifest in all sectors.
"This is in spite of desperate efforts by the opposition APC and Boko Haram which is the APC's armed wing, to blight the achievements of our presidential candidate, President Jonathan, with the abduction of Chibok girls, which took place in Borno State under the control of a chief security officer of the State who is an APC governor."

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The Ooni of Ife, Oba Okunade Sijuwade, on Saturday, demanded a total representation of the South-West in the cabinet of President Goodluck Jonathan and the creation of the Oduduwa State with its headquarters in Ile Ife.
The monarch made the requests among others when Jonathan led notable chieftains of the Peoples Democratic Party, including the National Chairman of the party, Adamu Muazu, on a visit to his palace in Ile Ife, Osun State.
About 50 other traditional rulers from Osun State and environs were present to receive the president. This is the second time Jonathan would be visiting the palace to solicit the support of the royal fathers and the people of the state to ensure victory in the March 28 presidential election.
The Ooni delegated the Orangun of Oke Ila, Oba Adedokun Abolarin, to speak on his behalf. He said, " We want total representation. There are ongoing projects in Osun State and we know there is paucity of fund but we want you to finish all the projects."

Commending the President, Oba Ibitoye Adeseun, the monarch of Iresi, said the transformation agenda of the administration and the renewed war against Boko Haram insurgents were laudable.
He added, " Ife and Ijesa are large enough to form a state of their own. We want you to create Oduduwa State with its headquarters in Ile Ife. We also seek the implementation of the Confab report. We throw our weight behind you."

The Owamiran of Esa-Oke, Oba Adeyemi Adeniran, assured Jonathan of the support of the royal fathers and the residents of the state in the coming polls.
He said, "Be rest assured that Obas and indigenes of Osun State are solidly behind you."
The Olufi of Gbongan, Oba Adetoyese Oyeniyi, also told the President that the Gbongan-Iwo-Oyo State boundary has not been completed but was reported to have been completed. The Ooni prayed for God to grant Jonthan success in the presidential poll.

Responding, Jonathan promised the monarchs that he would correct all the lapses observed by his administration especially the low representation of the south-west people in his government.
Making an allusion to the position of speakership of the House of Representatives zoned to the South-West and which was eventually lost to the North-West, Jonathan said he would not allow such lapse to repeat itself if given the opportunity to rule the nation for another four years.
He said, " There will be political opportunities for the people in the South-West, we will correct all the lapses. People from the south-west will play key role and whatever is due them will be given."

Jonathan promised to implement the report of the Confab, saying the restructuring of the nation as contained in the report was more important than building infrastructure which he said his administration would also not relent in doing.
He said, "If you build infrastructure, they will collapse one day. We will continue to build infrastructure but if you make significant changes in restructuring the country, that is a significant and sustainable development."

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Thousands of members and supporters of the All Progressives Congress, on Saturday, held a 'one-million-man march' in Lagos for the March 28 and April 11 elections.

The march began at Maryland in Ikeja, the city's capital, at 8.20am.

The train moved from Maryland through Ikorodu Road to Teslim Balogun Stadium in Surulere.

Those who led the march included former Governor of Lagos State and national leader of the APC, Senator Bola Tinubu; Governor of Osun State, Rauf Aregbesola; Lagos State House of Assembly Speaker, Mr. Adeyemi Ikuforiji; APC governorship candidate in Lagos, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode; and APC candidate for Lagos-Central Senatorial District, Senator Oluremi Tinubu.

Others present included Senator Gbenga Ashafa and Mr. Dele Adeleke, among others.

Governor Aregbesola, in his speech said President Goodluck Jonathan has brought misery and bad luck to Nigeria.

Dressed in white jumpsuit and a pair of trainers to match, the Osun state governor sang that President Jonathan would be sent packing come March 28 at the presidential poll.

Addressing the gathering at the Teslim Balogun Stadium in Surulere, Lagos State, after the one-million-man march, Aregbesola who spoke in the Yoruba language compared Jonathan to the Biblical Jonah in the Bible who brought misery to the mariners in the ship he boarded before he was thrown overboard.‎
"That is the Biblical Jonah. The Nigerian Jonah is President Goodluck Jonathan. Jonathan was named Goodluck because his father thought he would bring blessing and prosperity to the land. God gave him the privilege but he has failed to do the work God asked him to do. What did the mariners do to Jonah?
"They threw him into the sea. We're not going to throw Jonathan into the sea. We are going to use our votes to carry him back to his village, Otuoke. We have to vote right; we have to vote for change. We must vote for the APC. Jonathan cannot continue to rule Nigeria. He has brought bad luck to the country. His name has changed from Goodluck to bad luck," Aregbesola said.

Speaking earlier, a national leader of the APC and former governor of Lagos, Bola Tinubu, stated that the march was a march for change in the country's leadership.
Tinubu said, "We are marching for common sense revolution. I thank you all for marching for change. By now we would have had change in government but the Federal Government changed the elections date. This is March, we'll march for Buhari and Osinbajo. We started this walk together."

In his address, the APC vice presidential candidate, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo called on the audience to vote out Jonathan. According to him, instead of prosperity, Jonathan and the PDP have brought poverty on Nigerians.
"May we not have PDP in Nigerian government again. May we not have PDP again in Aso Villa. May PDP not take away our fortune and our future. Vote for change come March 28 and April 11," Osinbajo said.

The Lagos State governorship candidate of the APC, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode, expressed appreciation for the party's supporters for taking part in the walk and criticised the Peoples Democratic Party-led Federal Government for the six-week postponement of elections.

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President Goodluck Jonathan on Saturday promised to institute a special fund for the country's sports sector if re-elected for a second term on March 28.‎
Jonathan made the promise while addressing sportsmen and others at a solidarity rally organised for him at the Eagle Square, Abuja.
Vice-President Namadi Sambo in his short remark at the event said Nigeria could not afford to be governed by a 73-year-old President.

The event put together by a Non-Governmental Organisation, Desire for Greatness Foundation, saw the President walking from the Presidential Villa, Abuja to the Eagle Square.
He was joined in the long walk by Sambo and President of the Senate, David Mark, among other top government officials and presidential aides.

The President said the special fund would serve as stop gap for the trainings of the nation's sportsmen before their budgets are approved.
He added that the fund would also be used to bring succour to sports men and women who have brought glory to the nation but suddenly found themselves in need.
He said, "To strengthen sporting activities in Nigeria further, there are some areas that we need to look into and I promise that when we come back, we are going to set up a special fund that will handle these special areas.
"I have identified about five areas that we must look at. I realised that sometimes when we have major tournaments, because of government budgeting and files movement, training periods are delayed. We want to make sure that we stop that by setting up a special fund that can serve as a stop gap.
"One other thing I realised from our interactions with sportsmen and women from my days in Bayelsa State to the centre here is that some of them want special training programmes that their federation cannot fund and they won't have money to do that. We must stop that.
"Some other ones want to improve their professional career. Because they are so committed to sports, they may not go to university at the time they should have gone. So when they want to go, they may not have the money. We must have fund for that.
"Another area is that some of them get injured and can no longer participate and sometimes, they are left on their own. We must get some funds to take care of such people.
"Another one that I have identified is that some people have made this country proud. Sport is one key thing that brings unity to this country. Whenever our sportsmen are playing, we don't discriminate.
"We must set up a fund to make sure that nobody who made this country proud will be a beggar."

Jonathan also promised that his administration would strengthen sports institutions such as the National Sports Institute in Lagos and Abuja.
He said in developing the institutions, his government would not depend on an annual budget with its yearly change in benchmark.
He said the management of the fund would be in the hands of the private sector so that it would continue to grow and take care of all the areas that he had identified.

President Jonathan said his government would continue to budget for fund but the intervention funds was needed to complement what government budgets annually.
"That will give us the opportunity to take care of these areas that we have identified. My conviction is that when these areas are properly handled, Nigeria will begin to dominate sporting activities globally," he concluded.

Meanwhile, Sambo, in his short remarks, said Nigeria could not afford to be governed by a 73-year-old President.
"I don't think this country deserves a 73-year-old President. Jonathan should carry go," the Vice President declared in a veiled remark directed at the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (retd.).

Others who spoke included the Minister of Sports, Tamuno Danagogo; Director-General, National Sports Commission, Gbenga Elegbeleye; football stars, Augustine Eguavoen and Joseph Yobo as well as Mary Onyali.
Jonathan and his men started the long walk from the gate of his official residence inside the Presidential Villa, Abuja at about 7.15am.
With members of the nation's Paralympics leading the way, Jonathan arrived the Eagle Square at about 7:50am to a loud ovation by those already at the venue.

Nigerian musicians such as Skales and Omawunmi thrilled the audience with their performances.
The President also participated in light aerobics led by Yobo.

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Boko Haram has pledged allegiance to Islamic State, according to a message on the group's Twitter account.
The message, which could not immediately be verified, appeared to be by the group's leader, Mohammed Shekau, who addressed himself as the Imam of Jamaátu Ahlus Sunnah Lidda'awati Wal Jihad (Boko Haram) and was addressed to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi al-Husseini al-Qurashi, the leader of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) or Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS).
In the message, he said, "In submission to the order of Allah Azza wa Jal, and submission to the order of the prophet, to not separate from each other and to stay united..we announce our allegiance to the Caliph of the Muslims Ibrahim ibn Awad ibn Ibrahim al-Husseini al-Qurashi and will hear and obey in times of difficulty and prosperity."

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King Mohammed VI of Morocco has refused to accept a phone conversation with President Goodluck Jonathan based on the notion that it is politically inclined.

According to www.moroccoworldnews.com, the Moroccan Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in a communique released on Friday, said a request by Nigerian authorities for a phone conversation between Mohammed and Jonathan was refused by the Monarch who deemed it "inappropriate on grounds of the upcoming elections in Nigeria."

The king refused to accept the request which he deemed "inappropriate" on grounds that it is linked to the important elections in Nigeria and also because of Nigeria's positions regarding the sacred national, Arab and Islamic causes, the Ministry said in a statement.

The Nigerian authorities request for the phone conversation and the sending of a Nigerian envoy to the Kingdom is more akin to an attempt to gain Muslim votes than a normal diplomatic act, added the statement.

Nigeria is one of the allies of Algeria, South Africa and Venezuela in defending the Polisario with the regards to the question of Western Sahara and has been lobbying the United Nations and calling for the establishment of human rights monitoring mechanism in the territory.‎
Efforts to reach the Presidential spokesman, Reuben Abati, on Saturday failed.

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25,000 pastors and evangelists in the South-West are to hold a special prayer session for the presidential candidate of All Progressives Congress, APC, Major-General Muhammadu Buhari, and his running mate, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, on Tuesday, at Teslim Balogun Stadium, Lagos.
According to the coordinator of the programme, Bishop Kayode Williams, the ministers of God will come together to seek divine support for Buhari and Osinbajo.
Williams, who revealed that the spiritual exercise, tagged "Divine Restoration of Nigeria Glory", is being organized to disabuse the minds of Nigerians about the wrong impression being created about Buhari. "We are four spearheading this prayer session: My humble self, Rev. Moses Iloh, Archbishop Magnus Atilade and Deacon Ayo Opadokun. We are against wrong information being fed members of the public about Buhari.
For those of us that followed the track record of Buhari while he was in public service, we know that this man is not a religious bigot. Buhari  is an upright man and not anti-Christ as some people want to portray him," he declared.
While describing the prayer session as a unique event, Williams implored Nigerians not to use religion to confuse people or to divide Nigerians.
"First and foremost, we should see ourselves as one. We are all Nigerians. We should not allow politics to divide us or cause bitterness among us. We should love one another. It is wrong for anybody or group to say Christians are against Buhari – to us, Buhari is a righteous Nigerian, and Christianity preaches righteousness, and we want righteous people in leadership, and this is why we are organizing this prayer for Buhari to be the next leader of this country", he stated.
While reminding Nigerians that the country is a secular state, Williams implored Nigerians to be tolerant of one another's faith, views and opinions.
The cleric  revealed that the programme will have in attendance as special guests Buhari, and Osinbajo and other eminent personalitie

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