Tributes, tears as Goldie is laid to rest

Emotions rang high today as late Hip-Hop star and former Big Brother Africa housemate, Susan Harvey, was laid to rest. The deceased, popularly known as Goldie, was buried at Ikoyi Vaults and Gardens, Lagos.The deceased’s colleagues in the industry such as Kenny Ogungbe, Denrele Edun, Essence, Kenny st. Brown and Weird Mc were all in attendance. Friends and family rendered written tributes to the 31-year-old whom they described as determined and loving.

One of such tributes was a written one from her husband, Andrew. Andrew said, “Susan you walked into my life. It was like God sent you as a fresh breath. I still remember your response to my first love message. You said, ‘Love killed Romeo, sent Diana to an early grave and killed jack on the Titanic, forget about love, just have friendship and live long.’“Over time our love grew to a depth I have never known. You were the best years of my life, your smile, your desire to live your dream.”
Goldie died on February 14, 2013 of cerebral haemorrhage and hypertensive heart disease.

Via Punch

The Complete Oscars 2013 Winners List

Yesterday night, Hollywood's biggest stars were at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood for the 2013 Oscar Awards, and I'm bringing you the list of all the nominees and winners! (Winners underlined).

Best Supporting Actor

Christoph Waltz, Django Unchained
Philip Seymour Hoffman, The Master
Robert De Niro, Silver Linings Playbook
Alan Arkin, Argo
Tommy Lee Jones, Lincoln

Best Original Song

Before My Time, Chasing Ice
Pi's Lullaby, Life of Pi
Suddenly, Les Miserables
Everybody Needs a Best Friend, Ted
Skyfall, Skyfall

Best Supporting Actress

Sally Field, Lincoln
Anne Hathaway, Les Miserables
Jacki Weaver, Silver Linings Playbook
Helen Hunt, The Sessions
Amy Adams, The Master

Best Animated Film

Frankenweenie
The Pirates! Band of Misfits
Wreck-It Ralph
ParaNorman
Brave

Best Foreign Language Film

Amour
No
War Witch
A Royal Affair
Kon-Tiki

Best Adapted Screenplay

Beasts of the Southern Wild
Argo
Lincoln
Silver Linings Playbook
Life of Pi

Best Original Screenplay

Flight
Zero Dark Thirty
Django Unchained
Amour
Moonrise Kingdom

Best Director

David O. Russell, Silver Linings Playbook
Ang Lee, Life of Pi
Steven Spielberg, Lincoln
Michael Haneke, Amour
Benh Zeitlin, Beasts of the Southern Wild

Best Actor

Daniel Day-Lewis, Lincoln
Denzel Washington, Flight
Hugh Jackman, Les Miserables
Bradley Cooper, Silver Linings Playbook
Joaquin Phoenix, The Master

Best Actress

Naomi Watts, The Impossible
Jessica Chastain, Zero Dark Thirty
Jennifer Lawrence, Silver Linings Playbook
Emmanuelle Riva, Amour
Quvenzhané Wallis, Beasts of the Southern Wild

Best Picture

Beasts of the Southern Wild
Silver Linings Playbook
Zero Dark Thirty
Lincoln
Les Miserables
Life of Pi
Amour
Django Unchained
Argo

Best Cinematography

Seamus McGarvey, Anna Karenina
Robert Richardson, Django Unchained
Claudio Miranda, Life of Pi
Janusz Kaminski, Lincoln
Roger Deakins, Skyfall

Best Costume Design

Jacqueline Durran, Anna Karenina
Paco Delgado, Les Miserables
Joanna Johnston, Lincoln
Eiko Ishioka, Mirror Mirror
Colleen Atwood, Snow White and the Huntsman

Best Documentary Feature

5 Broken Cameras, Emad Burnat and Guy Davidi
The Gatekeepers
How to Survive a Plague
The Invisible War
Searching for Sugar Man

Best Documentary Short Subject

Inocente, Sean Fine and Andrea Nix Fine
Kings Point, Sari Gilman and Jedd Wider
Mondays at Racine, Cynthia Wade and Robin Honan
Open Heart, Kief Davidson and Cori Shepherd Stern
Redemption, Jon Alpert and Matthew O'Neill

Best Film Editing

William Goldenberg, Argo
Tim Squyres, Life of Pi
Michael Kahn, Lincoln
Jay Cassidy and Crispin Struthers, Silver Linings Playbook
Dylan Tichenor and William Goldenberg, Zero Dark Thirty

Best Makeup and Hairstyling

Howard Berger, Peter Montagna and Martin Samuel, Hitchcock
Peter Swords King, Rick Findlater and Tami Lane, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
Lisa Westcott and Julie Dartnell, Les Miserables

Best Original Score

Dario Marianelli, Anna Karenina
Alexandre Desplat, Argo
Mychael Danna, Life of Pi
John Williams, Lincoln
Thomas Newman, Skyfall

Best Production Design

Anna Karenina, Production Design: Sarah Greenwood; Set Decoration: Katie Spencer
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, Production Design: Dan Hennah; Set Decoration: Ra Vincent and Simon Bright
Les Miserables, Production Design: Eve Stewart; Set Decoration: Anna Lynch-Robinson
Life of Pi, Production Design: David Gropman; Set Decoration: Anna Pinnock
Lincoln, Production Design: Rick Carter; Set Decoration: Jim Erickson

Best Animated Short Film

Adam and Dog, Minkyu Lee
Fresh Guacamole, PES
Head over Heels, Timothy Reckart and Fodhla Cronin O'Reilly
Maggie Simpson in "The Longest Daycare," David Silverman
Paperman, John Kahrs

Best Live Action Short Film

Asad, Bryan Buckley and Mino Jarjoura
Buzkashi Boys, Sam French and Ariel Nasr
Curfew, Shawn Christensen
Death of a Shadow (Dood van een Schaduw), Tom Van Avermaet and Ellen De Waele
Henry, Yan England

Best Sound Editing

Argo, Erik Aadahl and Ethan Van der Ryn
Django Unchained, Wylie Stateman
Life of Pi, Eugene Gearty and Philip Stockton
Skyfall, Per Hallberg and Karen Baker Landers
Zero Dark Thirty, Paul N.J. Ottosson

Best Sound Mixing

Argo, John Reitz, Gregg Rudloff and Jose Antonio Garcia
Les Miserables, Andy Nelson, Mark Paterson and Simon Hayes
Life of Pi, Ron Bartlett, D.M. Hemphill and Drew Kunin
Lincoln, Andy Nelson, Gary Rydstrom and Ronald Judkins
Skyfall, Scott Millan, Greg P. Russell and Stuart Wilson

Best Visual Effects

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, Joe Letteri, Eric Saindon, David Clayton and R. Christopher White
Life of Pi, Bill Westenhofer, Guillaume Rocheron, Erik-Jan De Boer and Donald R. Elliott
Marvel's The Avengers, Janek Sirrs, Jeff White, Guy Williams and Dan Sudick
Prometheus, Richard Stammers, Trevor Wood, Charley Henley and Martin Hill
Snow White and the Huntsman, Cedric Nicolas-Troyan, Philip Brennan, Neil Corbould and Michael Dawson

Via YahooTV

Sand dredger killed, Policeman injured in Lagos explosion

A sand dredger, Oladele Pius, was killed yesterday after an explosion under the FESTAC Link Bridge in Amuwo Odofin Local Government, Lagos State. A police inspector, Akin Sunday, also sustained a serious injury in the explosion that caused panic in the area.

Pius, who was the branch Chairman of Sand Dredgers in the area, was torn apart. According to eyewitnesses, rescue workers found it difficult to carry Pius’ remains and had to use shovels to pack them in different body bags. They (eyewitnesses) said the inspector’s legs were shattered, while his eyes and hands were affected by the explosion.

The explosion which occurred at about 12pm, caused panic because many of the residents and passersby had speculated that the explosion might have been as a result of terrorists’ activities. They reportedly fled the area.

Dogo, one of the deceased’s workers, described him as a kind-hearted man, adding that he was survived by five children and two wives.

It could not be ascertained who planted the explosive, but the police denied that it was a bomb. Commissioner of Police for the state Police Command, Umar Manko, said full investigation had commenced to unravel the cause of the explosion.

 He said, “Contrary to people’s fear that it was a bomb blast, it was a mere electrical fault at the Amuwo Odofin Bridge. Anti-bomb experts have been called in to assess the situation and I will be adequately briefed later. From the investigation so far, it has been revealed that it was neither a terrorist attack nor an act of Boko Haram. It was also not a bomb blast. It is not a question of letter bomb. This is not an incident that will attract fear. The state is not under any attack from anywhere.”

The scene of the explosion had, however, been cordoned off by the Bomb Disposal Unit of the Nigeria Police and officials of the Lagos State Emergency Management Agency.

Via Punch

FIFA Approves Goal-Line Technology for 2014 World Cup

FIFA has approved the use of goal-line technology for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. It will also be used at the Confederations Cup, which takes place in the country from June 15 this year, the governing body said.

A statement on the FIFA website read: "After a successful implementation of Goal-Line Technology (GLT) at the FIFA Club World Cup in Japan in December 2012, FIFA has decided to use GLT at the FIFA Confederations Cup Brazil 2013 and 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil."

FIFA has launched a tender and is inviting goal-line technology providers to apply to supply the systems, with the final decision on the provider to be made in April. Hawk-Eye and GoalRef both have FIFA approval, with the former using cameras and the latter involving a low-frequency magnetic field surrounding the goal and an electronic circuit in the ball.

Goal-line technology has been the subject of debate for several years. England famously scored against West Germany in the 1966 World Cup final when Geoff Hurst's shot cannoned down from the crossbar, while England were denied an equaliser in their second-round defeat to Germany at the 2010 World Cup when the officials failed to spot that Frank Lampard's effort had crossed the line.

At the 1986 World Cup, Spain lost 1-0 to Brazil in their opening match due to the failure to award a goal to Michel in similar circumstances.

Despite widespread support for the use of goal-line technology, UEFA president Michel Platini has repeatedly stated his opposition. In December, in light of the trials at the Club World Cup, he had said it was an unnecessary expense.

"I prefer to give €50 million to grassroots than goal-line technology for perhaps one or two goals a year," he said then. "If the goal-line referee is one metre from the line and he has good glasses, he can see whether the ball is inside or not." He has also expressed the view that technology should not be introduced until it can cover all aspects of the game.

Via ESPN

HTC Fires Back At Apple And Samsung With The Stunning 4.7-inch HTC One

There’s little question that HTC wishes 2012 had gone just a little better — the beleaguered smartphone company posted awfully disappointing results quarter after quarter, while rivals like Samsung and Apple continued to hit milestone after milestone.

CEO Peter Chou firmly believes that the worst is over though, and that the company he helms can truly turn its fortunes around. HTC has just introduced the device it hopes will help do all that — the HTC One.

Frankly, there’s not a lot here that hasn’t already been spoiled by an insane number of leaks over the past few weeks, but the One is still a terribly pretty handset. The One sports a 4.7-inch 1080p display (pixel density: 468ppi) flanked on either side by white or black trim not entirely unlike the BlackBerry Z10. Naturally, the internals are nothing to scoff at either — inside its sleek, gently curved aluminum unibody chassis, are one of Qualcomm’s new quad-core Snapdragon 600 chipsets clocked at 1.6GHz, 2GB of RAM, and 32 or 64 GB of internal flash storage.

The company’s focus on improving mobile sound quality has led it to add a pair of front-facing speakers complete with their own amplifiers and obnoxious name (really? “BoomSound”?). As you’d expect, HTC has also gone to town with the One’s camera — with its so-called “Ultrapixel” sensor HTC is trying to transcend the megapixel race entirely. An f/2.0 lens helps the cause here, but the company insists that its newfangled sensor collects “300 percent more light” than those of its rivals. Through in a living room play in the form of an IR blaster and a HTC-branded remote control/guide app powered by Peel and you’ve got yourself a neat little package.

Google’s Roboto typeface is featured prominently throughout and Sense’s icons and widgets are flatter and more in line with Jelly Bean’s cold digital aesthetic. The biggest addition though is a new feature called BlinkFeed, which pulls in content from thousands of sources (think ESPN, AOL’s media properties, The Verge, Reuters, and more), and dumps them into an activity stream that acts as the device’s homescreen.

HTC has said that the One will ultimately be available from 185+ wireless carriers the world over starting in March, but in the States, AT&T, Sprint, and T-Mobile will be the ones to carry HTC’s latest flagship and would-be savior.

Via TechCrunch

Popular singer, Goldie, dies on Val Day

Hip-hop singer, Susan Harvey, popularly called Goldie, is dead. News of the death of the sensational artiste, who was a housemate at the Big Brother Africa in 2012, broke yesterday night around 10pm, throwing the Nigerian  entertainment world and the larger public into mourning.

Reports indicated that she died yesterday night at Reddington Hospital, in Victoria Island, Lagos. It was learnt that Goldie died in the presence of a Lagos-based entertainer, Denrele Edun, who was in the hospital with her.

A call was put through to another artiste, Essence, she confirmed the incident, even as she wept profusely. Essence is on the same Kenny Music label that produced Goldie’s works.

Susan Oluwabimpe Harvey was born in the early 1980s to very educated and successful parents. The first of four kids, Goldie attended the Green Springs Montessori Primary School and St. John’s College, Palm Groove, in Lagos.

Her music career remotely kicked off at the University of Sunderland where she was admitted to study Business Management. Goldie was signed on to Kennis Music in 2010. A few months later, she released her acclaimed debut titled, ‘Gold’. Her hit songs include ‘You Know It’, ‘Jawo Jawo’ and DTMB (Don’t Touch My Body).

Goldie has so far received a total of 10 awards, including Exquisite Lady of the year, Best Female Artiste award and City People Best Female Artiste of the year.

She has also been inducted as a Federal Celebrity Special Marshal, alongside other notable Nigerian Celebrities. The Law Students Society of the Obafemi Awolowo University recently issued her an Award for Musical Excellence under the category of Best Female Artiste of the Year. She has also been conferred a United Nations Youth Ambassador for Peace by the Federal Government.

Goldie became the final celebrity to exit the BBA7 star game house in 2012 as the 3rd runner up.

Via Punch

Oscar Pistorius 'shoots girlfriend dead': Latest

South African police have charged Olympic star Oscar Pistorius with the murder of his girlfriend, who was shot in the sprinter's home Thursday. Pistorius, 26, kept weapons at his gated, luxury South African home as a means of protection against his country's soaring crime rate, according to a British writer who had exclusive access to the Olympic sprinter.

In the early hours of Thursday morning, the 400 meter runner – the first man to compete in the Olympics and Paralympics – is believed to have used part of his weapons collection to tragically gun down his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp.

South African police have said there are witnesses who heard Oscar Pistorius, the Paralympic sprinter, allegedly shoot his girlfriend at their home in Pretoria. Police have confirmed that the 26-year-old man will be charged with murder after his girlfriend was found dead at his compound east of Pretoria, shot in the head and arm, and a 9mm pistol was recovered. The police spokesman said there are no other suspects in the case.

"There are witnesses and they have been interviewed this morning. We are talking about neighbours and people that heard things earlier in the evening and when the shooting took place," said Denise Beukes, a police brigadier, outside Mr Pistorius’ home in Pretoria. Mr Pistorius is likely to appear before a court tomorrow to be charged.

The incident occurred in the early hours of St Valentine’s Day and local reports suggested Mr Pistorius believed he was shooting an intruder.

Via Telegraph

Corps members’ call-up now tied to JAMB Admission

The National Youth Service Corps yesterday said  only eligible graduates, who pass through duly accredited, full-time courses from higher institutions, would be mobilised for participation in the forthcoming 2013 Batch ‘A’ scheme, scheduled for between March 6 and 26.

Already, the NYSC has started collaborating with relevant regulatory organisations of corps producing institutions, such as the National Universities Commission for universities and degree-awarding institutions, and the National Board for Technical Education for monotechnics/polytechnics and the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board.

A statement by the Director-General of the NYSC, Brig. General Nnamdi Okorie-Affia, in Abuja said any prospective corps member, whose admission status was not known to JAMB, would be deemed to have been improperly admitted.

He said, “Accordingly, the data of all prospective corps members, as submitted for mobilisation by their respective institutions, are subjected to screening for conformity with the requirements of these regulatory/examination bodies. Any submission in excess of quotas approved will not be accepted.  Graduates of courses not duly accredited by these regulatory bodies will not be mobilised for service.”

Via Punch

Amazon Beats Out Apple For The Best Reputation Among U.S. Consumers; Google Comes Fourth

A little victory both for Amazon and the world of virtual commerce, today: the online retailer has topped the ranking for best reputation in a poll of 14,000 U.S. consumers, according to Harris Interactive. Apple, which was last year’s winner, slipped down to number-two. At number four, Google was the other tech company to make the top-five in the Harris Poll, now in its 14th year, with Disney (#2) and Johnson&Johnson (#5) rounding out the close list. 

Technology also stood out in the rankings in another way: it topped Harris’ list of industries for overall reputation dominance, with a 79% positive reputation. Another marker of how tech continues to become increasingly mainstream.

Consumers are asked to give their assessment on how well companies do in the areas of products and services; financial performance; workplace environment; social responsibility; vision and leadership; and emotional appeal. In these rankings, Amazon topped the list for emotional appeal, where it ranked some five points ahead of any other company, “despite an entirely virtual relationship with the public.”

Amazon’s online-only approach is proving to also be a hit with consumers when it comes to trust: it got “nearly 100%” positive ratings on all questions related to trust. “More than 50 percent of respondents also recall discussing Amazon with friends and family in the past year, and nearly 100 percent of these conversations were positive,” Harris writes.

Apple still topped the rankings in vision and leadership, as well as financial performance — not surprising given the giddy heights of its stock price and profits — although its lead in these areas was not strong enough to average out as the overall leader.

Via TechCrunch

Senate gives Jonathan two days to sack Maina

The Senate yesterday gave President Goodluck Jonathan a two-day ultimatum within which to sack the Chairman of the Pension Reform  Task Team, Mr. Abdulrasheed Maina, from the Federal Civil Service. The upper legislative chamber said Jonathan risked dire consequences if he failed to end Maina’s stay in office.

Senate President, David Mark, said this after a debate on a motion entitled, “Dismissal of Mr. Abdulrasheed Maina for refusal to appear before the Senate.” The debate was sponsored by the Leader of the Senate, Victor Ndoma-Egba (SAN), and 107 senators, urging President Goodluck Jonathan to sack Maina from the public service. The Senate has 109 members.

According to Mark, the Senate as an institution has been pushed to the wall and can no longer tolerate the insolence of public officials working for the executive. “The executive has to choose between the Senate and Maina. He has crucified himself. If Maina remains, then the Senate would react appropriately" he said.

“The Senate is not lacking in ideas on what to do. Nobody in this country is bigger than our democracy. I have been extremely patient with Maina, so that when we react, they will know that we have been fair. Whether the Police are serious about (arresting) Maina is something we are going to find out. This Senate is not going to allow this to linger on, if in two days they have not done anything, we can come here and convene and take a decision. This Senate has teeth to bite, the Senate will bite when it needs to bite; and when we decide to bite, there will be no room for escape."

The Senate also resolved to summon the Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Abubakar, for failing to carry out an earlier order for Maina’s arrest as contained in a warrant of arrest duly signed and issued by the President of the Senate.

Via Punch

President will not sign budget this week – Minister

The Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, has said President Goodluck Jonathan will not be able to sign the 2013 budget into law this week because there is still much work to be done on it. The minister said this in a statement issued yesterday night by her Senior Special Assistant on Communications, Mr. Paul Nwabuikwu.

She said talk that Jonathan would sign the budget this week was premature as the National Assembly was still fine-tuning the budget details with the President.

The National Assembly had on December 20, 2012 formally passed a budget of N4.987tn for 2013, raising the total figure by about N63bn. The original proposal by the President was N4.924tn.

In the original proposal, Jonathan had set aside N2.41tn for recurrent expenditure, but the lawmakers slashed it to N2.38tn.

Similarly, they raised capital vote to N1.62tn, up from Jonathan’s N1.54tn, and also increased the crude oil benchmark price from the Executive proposal of $75 to $79 per barrel.

Via Punch

Banks slash current account charge to N3 …plan to reduce other charges

The Bankers Committee has said Deposit Money Banks in the country have agreed to reduce all bank charges in order to enhance financial inclusion. As a first step, the committee has already endorsed the downward review of the Commission on Turnover charged current account holders from N5 on every N1,000 withdrawn to N3.

The approval of the reduction was announced after the committee’s meeting, which was held at the headquarters of the Central Bank of Nigeria yesterday in Abuja. The meeting, which lasted for about five hours, was attended by the CBN Governor, Mr. Lamido Sanusi; top executives of Deposit Money Banks as well as other senior officials of the CBN.

The Director, Banking Supervision, CBN, Mrs. Tokunbo Martins, addressed journalists on the outcome of the meeting. She was accompanied by the Managing Directors, Access Bank Plc, Mr. Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede; Zenith Bank Plc, Mr. Godwin Emefiele; Stanbic IBTC, Mr. Yinka Sanni; and Director, Corporate Communications, CBN, Mr. Ugochukwu Okoroafor.

On the customer biometric project, Emefiele said the committee had fixed a take-off date of July for its commencement. He said, “We discussed the customer identity management project at this meeting. We set up a committee last year comprising nine financial institutions on how to boost consumer credit to Nigerians.

“We do not have a databank where we can access the information of bank customers and we say setting up this committee will help build a database through a biometric project.”

According to him, the project will enable all bank customers to have a unique biometric identification number that will allow all the banks to see the information of the customer regardless of whether he has an account with them or not.

“Once you have that unique number and you go to bank ‘B’ from ‘A’ to open an account, once you just show that number, an account will automatically be opened for you,” Emefiele said. He said owing to the unique number, it would be easy for banks to do businesses with their customers.

Via Punch

Juve clinical, Valencia hope

Celtic need a football miracle if they are to rescue their Champions League hopes after succumbing to a ruthless Juventus side 3-0 in the first leg of their last-16 clash at Parkhead.

Juve striker Alessandro Matri rocked the Hoops with a third-minute goal only for Neil Lennon's side to battle back ferociously in a breathless encounter where, at times, the visiting penalty box resembled a wrestling ring.

However, despite their best efforts, the Scottish champions were hit by a sucker-punch in the 76th minute when midfielder Claudio Marchisio grabbed a second on the counter before striker Mirko Vucinic grabbed a third in the 83rd minute. The Hoops had beaten Barcelona and Spartak Moscow in the group stages in finishing second to the Catalans to reach the knockout stages for the first time in five seasons.

Adil Rami popped up with a crucial stoppage-time strike to hand Valencia a lifeline in their Champions League last-16 tie against Paris Saint-Germain at the Mestalla. PSG looked on course for a dream result as first-half goals by Argentinian duo Ezequiel Lavezzi and Javier Pastore put Carlo Ancelotti's men firmly in the driving seat, but their hopes of reaching the quarter-finals suffered a setback in the space of two wild minutes at the end of the contest.

First Rami stole in behind the defence to reduce the arrears to 2-1 for Los Che before PSG's talismanic striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic was sent off for aiming a stamp at Andres Guardado. The red card means Ibrahimovic is suspended for the return leg along with defensive midfielder Marco Verratti, who picked up his third booking of the campaign. PSG's late implosion took the shine off an otherwise impressive performance by Ancelotti's troops.

Via ESPN

Keshi, Players get National Honours, Cash, Plots of Land

President  Goodluck Jonathan yesterday announced a cash gift of N5m to each member of the victorious Super Eagles and the team’s three assistant coaches that clinched the gold medal in the just concluded Africa Cup of Nations in South Africa.

While the Head Coach, Stephen Keshi, was given N10m, members of the technical crew were also given N2m each.

The cash gifts also came with a plot of land and national honours for each member the team. Keshi bagged the national honour of the Commander of the Order of Niger while his three assistants and the team captain, Joseph Yobo, were conferred with Officer of the Order of Niger. The remaining players were conferred with Member of the Order of Niger.

Jonathan made the announcement amidst loud ovation from the lucky players during a state dinner he organised in their honour at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, few hours after their arrival in the country.

The President said two sets of Nigerians youths, musicians and footballers, had been placing the nation on the world map. He described the players as super heroes, saying their victory was an inspiration to  million of Nigerians. He said the trophy was the most precious centenary gift presented to the nation by the team.

The President recalled that there was skepticism on the part of Nigerians on the ability of the team to deliver when they left for the tournament. He commended them for ignoring criticisms and refusing to surrender by their superlative performance.

“The lesson in your victory for all of us is that we should never give up in the midst of criticism. Believe in yourself. With time, you will see the fruits of your labour,” he said.

He said the victory was an indication that there would be victory for his administration as he works hard to transform the country and his administration would continue to give sports it’s pride of place in the country. He assured the Chief Coach of his full support, urging him to ensure that the nation qualifies for the next World Cup.

In formally presenting the trophy to the President, the Chairman of the Nigeria Football Federation, Alhaji Aminu Maigari,  said it was a national pride for the players to win the trophy after 19 years.

The colourful event was attended by the wife of the President, Patience; Vice President Namadi Sambo; President of the Senate, David Mark; Speaker, House of Representatives, Aminu Tambuwwal; Deputy President of the Senate, Ike Ekweremadu; Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Emeka Ihediora, and state governors among others.

Via Punch

Keshi withdraws Nigeria resignation

Stephen Keshi has performed a dramatic U-turn on his decision to quit as Nigeria coach, with the Africa Nations Cup-winning boss revealing he will now continue in the post after talks with the country's sports minister.

Keshi led the Super Eagles to continental glory on Sunday for the first time in 19 years, but after rumblings of discontent with the Nigerian Football Federation (NFF) bubbled below the surface throughout the tournament, the former defender told South African radio station Metro FM on Monday that he had tendered his resignation.

However, less than 24 hours later Keshi has reversed his decision following a meeting with Nigeria sports minister Bolaji Abdullahi.

A statement from the 51-year-old coach, released by the NFF, said: "My attention has been drawn to reports in the media that I have resigned my appointment as the head coach of Super Eagles of Nigeria.

"While I have had cause to express my displeasure over some issues that happened in the course of our participation in the AFCON 2013, which my team won by the grace of God, especially concerning my relationship with the Nigerian Football Federation, I have since had opportunity to discuss the various issues with all concerned.

"I am therefore pleased to say that I have reconsidered my position and have decided to continue with my job. I want to thank the Honourable Minister of Sports, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, for his swift and kind intervention."

Keshi has received plenty of plaudits for ending Nigeria's long wait for African Nations Cup glory and in guiding the Super Eagles to a 1-0 victory over Burkina Faso in the final he became only the second man - after Egypt's Mahmoud El-Gohary - to win the competition as both a player and coach.

Nigeria are currently top of their World Cup qualifying group for Brazil 2014, ahead of Namibia, Malawi and Kenya after two games.

Via ESPN