Gist Arena

Sandra Bassey, former Miss Niger Delta (2012) is a beauty to behold. Recently, she debuted in Nollywood as she featured in the screen adaptation of Chimamanda Adichie’s bestselling novel, Half of a Yellow Sun. In a chat with Showtime Celebrity, Sandra shares some information information. Read below: How do you maintain your skin? I drink water a lot. Water is essential for the skin. I also eat lots of fruits and vegetables. I hardly use body cream, because of the chemicals used in making them which are sometimes harmful to the skin. Everything good has its disadvantages. What are those things you didn’t like being a queen? Basically, one of the challenges I had was advances from men. Men wanting to sleep with you in exchange for project sponsorship or to approve your proposals. Another challenge was in terms of friendship. I didn’t know who were my true friends. Lots of people came around me. I didn’t know who came because I was beautiful, or for my fame. I didn’t know who ...

Not The Main Bridge Some gunmen suspected to be members of dreaded Boko Haram sect over the week end planted Improvised Explosive Devices, IEDs under the popular Madafuma bridge linking 185km Biu- Damboa- Maiduguri federal road where it exploded and damaged some remarkable portion of the bridge leaving motorists and passengers stranded. The road which has remained a death trap for the past two years with terrorists ambushing motorists and passengers living hundreds dead with the kidnapping of innocent civilians have to be abandoned as most people of Biu, Garkida, Numan, Shani, Taraba resorted to follow through Gombe state which now took them up to 12 hours instead of normal 3 or 5 hours Journey to Maiduguri, the Borno state capital. In less than 10 days ago, there was a massive ambush on the road where the terrorists sacked the 195 Battalion if the 7 Division of the Nigerian Army, after killing the Commanding Officer along side a Divisional Police Officer and over 15 sol...

Girl-child education activist Malala Yousafzai, who  arrived  Nigeria in the early hours of today has already met with the families of some of the missing Chibok girls. Malala is in Nigeria to meet with President Jonathan and lend her voice in the demand to release the kidnapped girls. Another pic below

Talk show host Wendy Williams, who will be 50 on July 18th, showed off her body in a white bikini at the Venetian's TAO Beach in Las Vegas on Saturday as she hosts the ‘World’s Largest Bachelorette Party’ in Vegas from Friday through Sunday, alongside reality star, Brandi Glanville. 

Lt S.K Leo (pictured above) was due to wed on August 30th but his life was cut short in a recent attack by Boko Haram. So sad. May his soul rest in peace and may God comfort his fiancee.. Amen.

After the tussle for its release in Nigeria, “Half of A Yellow Sun”, a screen adaptation of Chimamanda Adichie’s bestselling novel,will be available in cinemas across the country from the 1st of August 2014. The film was one of the 77 movies recently approved by the National Film and Video Censors Board, NFVCB.  It was initially scheduled to open in Nigerian cinemas on Friday April 25, but was stopped as the Censors Board refused to issue the movie a certificate. The Board’s Acting Corporate Affairs Manager, Caesar Kagho in a statement said, the film is standard and rated “18”. The producers expressed happiness for the certification of the film. “Shareman Media and FilmOne Distribution, are happy to announce that the highly anticipated movie, Half of a Yellow Sun has been certified for theatrical release in Nigeria. “The movie, starring BAFTA award-winning and Oscar-nominated actor Chiwetel Ejiofor, BAFTA award-winning actress Thandie Newton, Anika Noni Rose, AMAA wi...

T he immediate past Governor of Imo State, Chief Ikedi Ohakim, spoke to our correspondent, CHIDI NKWOPARA, on a number of issues, including his days in office, the scores of allegations leveled against him and his aspirations. Please read on. Could you cast your mind back on the recent fire incident in your private residence in Owerri? I want to thank you immensely for your concern about my welfare, especially since the dastardly act of bombing the only house I have in Owerri. The press, particularly  Vanguard , has been very fantastic in its reportage. You highlighted it. You said everything that needed to be said and you made all the appeals that needed to be made. It is most regrettable that some miscreants decided to play politics with that tragedy. I thank God almighty that I am alive today to talk to you. I would have lost my first son and my wife, and I would have also died in that unfortunate incident. What has it been like since you left office? Since I le...

Three Nigerians, Olusoji Oluwafemi, Johnson Olayinka and Florence Obadiaru have been jailed in Britain for human trafficking. The three human smugglers were jailed for a total of 13 years for trafficking a woman for sexual exploitation and arranging for her transfer to Italy Olusoji Oluwafemi, 44, Johnson Olayinka, 45, and Florence Obadiaru, 48, were described by United Kingdom’s Daily Mail as “the London connection in a global trafficking conspiracy”. Mastermind and counterfeiter Oluwafemi, who coordinated the British side of the operation, was jailed for six-and-a-half years. Johnson Olayinka, 45, who collected the victim from Heathrow and organised her false UK passport, was jailed for four-and-a-half years. Florence Obadiaru, 48, who kept the victim at her home in London for two-and-a-half weeks before she left for Italy, was jailed for two years. Sentencing them, the judge, Rebecca Poulet said, “This was a sophisticated and carefully planned operation in Nigeri...

Malala Yousufzai A girls’ education campaigner, who was shot by the Taliban, Malala Yousafzai, is expected to be in Nigeria to campaign for the release of the schoolgirls abducted by Boko Haram, the UK Telegraph reports. Seventeen-year-old Yousafzai, who was an early backer of the #BringBackOurGirls campaign, is due in the Nigerian capital, Abuja, on Sunday. In addition to meeting relatives of the kidnapped girls, she is expected to seek an audience with President Goodluck Jonathan. Her visit to Nigeria takes place almost three months after the abduction of the girls, who were abducted by Boko Haram militants from a boarding school in Chibok, in north-east Borno State, on April 14. The presence of such a high-profile women’s rights campaigner will add to the pressure on the Nigerian government, which was accused in the early days of the kidnapping of not doing enough to resolve it.

The Nigeria Police on Saturday said it had intelligence reports that terrorists had perfected plan to attack the Federal Capital Territory’s transport sector, the News Agency of Nigeria reports. According to the report, the police claim is contained in a statement issued by the Force Public Relations Officer, Mr. Frank Mba. It therefore ordered the Commissioner of Police in the territory and commissioners in adjoining states to beef up security at major parks around Abuja and its environs. The statements stated that “the attacks are intended to cause panic among Abuja residents and visitors alike. “They are planned to be perpetrated through suicide bombings, or through the use of Improvised Explosive Devices concealed in luggage, bags, cans, and other receptacles.” It called on the people of the territory to be vigilant and report any suspicious persons, objects, movements or activities to the security forces promptly. The statement, however, enjoined them not to pa...