Gist Arena

A rticle written by former Femi Fani-Kayode  In the early hours of the morning of April 14th 2014 276 girls were abducted from their school as they slept. They all came from a predominantly Christian town in northern Nigeria called Chibok.  They were all between the ages of 15 and 18. They were eager to get a good education and to make something of their lives. 90 per cent of them were Christians who believed passionately that their God would always protect them and make a way for them in the predominantly Muslim Borno state where they resided in north-eastern Nigeria. They left home on the morning of   April 13th   confidently, eagerly and happily and went to school to do an exam. The Federal Government of Nigeria, headed by a Christian President by the name of Mr. Goodluck Jonathan, had earlier reminded the local authorities that the school had been closed for a considerable period of time for security reasons and warned that it should not be re-...

When a guesthouse belonging to one of Nigeria's leading Christian pastors collapsed last month, killing 115 mostly South African pilgrims, attention focused on the multimillion-dollar "megachurches" that form a huge, untaxed sector of Africa's top economy. Hundreds of millions of dollars change hands each year in these popular Pentecostal houses of worship, which are modeled on their counterparts in the United States. Some of the churches can hold more than 200,000 worshippers and, with their attendant business empires, they constitute a significant section of the economy, employing tens of thousands of people and raking in tourist dollars, as well as exporting Christianity globally. But exactly how much of Nigeria's $510 billion GDP they make up is difficult to assess, since the churches are, like the oil sector in Africa's top energy producer, largely opaque entities. "They don't submit accounts to anybody," says Bismarck Rewan...

Zambia’s Resa and Mozambique’s Mira became the first two housemates to be evicted from  Big Brother Hotshots  on Sunday 12 October, after the first week which saw the housemates going all-out to impress the continent with their  Hotshot  talents.    All the housemates, excluding Laveda, who won the title of Head of House after scoring highest with the studio audience during the talent show, were up for eviction this week. Africa voted, and with twelve housemates failing to win a country vote, the tie-breaker rule came into effect.  The end result, independently verified by auditors SizweNtsalubaGobodo, was that Resa and Mira had drawn the least support from the continent, and were sent home. It was a busy first week, with the housemates getting to know each other and delving into their first challenges. They won their first task advertising their  Hotshots  talents with posters, impressing Big Brother with their skills. C...

Church prepares ‘pastoral earthquake’ on divorce, gays Participants in a landmark review of Catholic teaching on the family suggested on Monday that the Church adopt a more positive perspective on the relationships of cohabiting, divorced and gay couples. Senior clerics handpicked by Pope Francis to draw conclusions from the discussions within an ongoing Vatican City synod of bishops from all over the world issued a working paper that said many saw “positive aspects” to relationships currently officially regarded as “irregular”. Those included same-sex partners, unmarried couples, or civilly married couples in which one or both partners is divorced. In what one prominent Vatican expert described as “a pastoral earthquake”, the clerics suggested in the paper that the Church should reach out to these groups. “Homosexuals have gifts and qualities to offer to the Christian community. Are we capable of welcoming these people, guaranteeing to them a fraternal space in our commun...

. Music producer and recording artiste, Samuel Ogwuachuba better known as ‘Samklef’ has officially parted ways with Ayodeji Balogun ‘Wizkid,’ putting an end to a relationship spanning almost half a decade.  In an interview with Linda Ikeji, Samklef was quoted to have said:  ‘I’m not happy with Wizkid. I like his music, but I don’t like him as a person anymore. The reason I don’t like him anymore is, why do you go about spoiling other people’s business? I never spoiled your business, never came out to say anything bad about you for four years. So why would you go to an OAP and tell the OAP that the reason why you no longer work with me is because my beat is amateur. What does that mean? Those amateur beats was what brought you to limelight, was what made you meet the same Akon who first dropped ‘Don’t dull’ on your voice’.  Samklef went on to say  ‘I’m doing fine without Wizkid. I don’t want to say I regret working with him but I...

After Nigeria’s embarrassing defeat at the hands of minnows Sudan in Khartoum, coach Stephen Keshi has become one of the most criticised gaffers in the game. Rightly so, because as the manager you dictate the rhtym of the team. However I strongly believe the following players should also share the blame for one of Nigeria’s darkest days in football alongside the Eagles coach. 1.  Efe Ambrose : The only positive aspect of the Celtic right back's involvement in these Super Eagles AFCON qualifiers was the goal he scored against Congo in Calabar. Apart from that Ambrose has been poor in the last three games for the Eagles. Against Sudan his overlapping runs which bore no meaningful results gave Sudanese danger man Tayyib the chance to dominate the right flank and keep causing trouble for the Nigerian defenders.   2.  Godsfrey Oboboana : Once tipped to become the next Uche Ukechukwu (the gentle giant), the Rizespor defender is definitely not living up to the billing at th...

There was indignation in Bayelsa State on Monday following the alleged killing of the former Governor Diepreye Alameisegha’s son, Mr. Oyemifa, in Dubai, the United Arab Emirate (UAE). The Nation gathered that Oyemifa, second to the last child in the family and student, was killed in Dubai at the weekend. His body was said to have been found on a street by the police who searched him and found his identify card. Using the identification card, the police reportedly traced the home of Oyemifa only to discover that he came from “a big family.” It was gathered that shortly after knowing the deceased background, the policemen left, but later came back to tell the family members in Alameiseigha’s house in Dubai that Oyemifa committed suicide. The policemen reportedly based their claims on an autopsy they said was conducted on the body. It was, however, learnt that the former governor was jolted by the news which hit him in Yenagoa, on Sunday just as his wife was said to ha...

Two families, the royal family of Olaoye in Ushi-Ekiti and the Oyenekan family are at loggerheads over the circum­cision of a 5-year-old girl,  Sunnewsonline  reports... The once rosy relationship between both families has now turned sour following a disagreement over the circumcision of their 5-year-old daughter. Miss Olufunke Oyenekan, mother of the 5yr old girl and fiancee to Emmanuel Olaoye, son of the Olaoyes, a royal family in Ushi-Ekiti, Ekiti State, had disagreed with the Olaoyes over their decision to perform the traditional circumcision rites on her daughter. The woman, sensing that her husband’s family wanted to perform the rites by all means, fled with her child from the Olaoye’s family house in Ushi Ekiti in 2012 and her whereabouts has since remain unknown. Recently, the Olaoye family again raised the alarm through a representative, identified as Chief Olu Olaoye over the sudden disappear­ance of Olufunke and her daughter. The family said that thei...

Osun State police command has disclosed that a man accused of killing a fellow guest with poison at a naming ceremony in Ile-Ife, would soon be dragged to court after completing investigations into the matter. It was learnt that shortly after the mysterious death of the unnamed man occurred when he returned from the ceremony, police authorities in Ife town were said to have swung into action to get to the root of the matter. The death of the deceased, said to be an artisan, it was learnt, led to the suspicion of those that attended the event with him. After thorough investigation into the matter, police eventually apprehended one 27-year-old Taofeek Adeyemo, who was confirmed to have attended the naming ceremony, where the deceased took his last drink. Speaking to newsmen in Osogbo, while parading the suspect, Osun State Commissioner of Police, Abubakar Marafa, who spoke through the Public Relations Officer of the command, Folasade Odoro, DSP, said the suspect had con...

The General Overseer of Revival Assembly Church, Ogba, Apostle Anselem Madubuko, has divulged in a recent interview with Yes! Magazine that a lot of pastors carry out their pastoral assignment as occult men and not as true men of God. “It is painful for me to see what so many pastors are doing. Many of them are practicing occultism in the church. They do all these for the love of money, power, for fame and they have compromised their faith. They are acting films on the pulpit, forging miracles and faking testimonies and unfortunately, people are falling victims.” “They have their support from their relatives; they connive with these people to hear what they shouldn’t hear. They give different contracts forgetting that we have also seen successful witches and wizards in Nigeria. They talk about Jonathan’s success, claiming they are responsible for it. These people may know your problems, but they don’t have the solutions, because they are not from God. “They u...

According to a report by Thisdaylive , Former Governor of Bayelsa state, Chief Diepreye Alamieyeseigha, popularly called Alams, has lost one of his sons, Oyoms, in Dubai, United Arab Emirate. Oyoms was said to have committed suicide while riding in an elevator in the desert city. As at the moment of this report, details were still hazy about the cause of the suicide.

A 10-month-old girl in Louisiana is in a hospital after being trapped underneath her father's decomposing body for several days. Sabine Parish Deputy Coroner Ron Rivers says that the infant, Betty Jean Fields, was dehydrated and had blistering skin, the  Shreveport Times  reported.  'It was able to breath, expand its chest up and down,' Rivers say of the girl. 'We're very blessed that the baby didn't succumb.' Betty had a seizure when she first arrived at LSU Medical Center in Shreveport, but she was already playing with stuffed animals later,  KSLA  reported.  She was listed in good condition on Sunday is expected to make a full recovery. The mother was in jail on misdemeanor charges at the time but was released on Saturday to care for the baby girl and her 5-year-old brother, who had alerted neighbors on Friday night. Rivers said he found Jason Fields, 43,  dead on a bed alongside a laptop computer at the h...