Thisday Tell:

In Zimbabwe, a First Lady Exerts Her Power Grace Mugabe at the opening of the Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front’s annual congress last month in Masvingo, Zimbabwe. Credit Joao Silva/The New York Times MASVINGO, Zimbabwe — The first lady of Zimbabwe’s display of power was unspoken, though clear, during the governing party’s annual congress, as she focused her speech on new party regalia featuring a teacup-shaped image of her country. “We all drink from the teacup,” Grace Mugabe, the first lady, said, explaining that she had designed the regalia herself. Not surprisingly, the next morning in Masvingo, the small town in southern Zimbabwe where the congress of the Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front, President Robert Mugabe’s party, was held recently, nearly all officials wore clothes adorned with Mrs. Mugabe’s teacup design. Ms. Mugabe — kno...

Diezani forfeits N35b to FG — 7th January 2017 Former Nigerian oil minister, Diezani Alison-Madueke yesterday temporarily forfeited  $153.3 million  to the Nigerian government. This was sequel to an order by a Federal High Court  in Lagos. The seized money, according to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission was stolen from the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation and stashed in three banks in Nigeria, in US dollars and Naira. Out of the loot,  N23.4 billion, another  N9.08 billion and $5m were kept in three different Nigerian banks. Justice  Muslim Hassan, who gave the order,  gave the banks and any other interested party 14 days to appear before him to prove the legitimacy of the monies, failing which the funds would be permanently forfeited to the Federal Government of Nigeria The judge made the order in favour of the EFCC which appeared before him yesterday with an ex parte application seeking the temporary fo...

Trump Transition Donald Trump has ordered all Obama ambassadors to quit by Inauguration Day, without exception 12:47 a.m. ET Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images For decades, U.S. ambassadors politically appointed by an outgoing president have been able to request an extension until Congress confirms their replacement, selected by an incoming president, but President-elect Donald Trump has informed all such ambassadors that they must resign by Jan. 20 "without exceptions," according to a Dec. 23 State Department cable described to The New York Times . This will leave many key U.S. allies — Britain, Germany, Canada, Japan — without a U.S. ambassador for up to several months, but it also has envoys with school-age children — as Trump does — scrambling to figure out what to do. "Political" ambassadors, as opposed to career diplomats, of...

"Nigeria was never on top of the map when God said, 'Let there be light'." Albert Einstein (1938) "Drinking 'garri' doesn't mean you're poor, but allowing it to swell before drinking is Poverty. Isaac Newton (1842) "He who runs around looking for scissors to cut indomie seasoning sachets is not yet hungry." Adolf Hilter (1996) "It is only when you see a mosquito landing on your testicles that you realise that there are ways of solving problems without violence." Aristotle (1762) "Only a courageous woman can fry a bunch of plantain without tasting any." Queen Elizabeth (1945) "He who unwraps a sharwama before tasting it cannot keep a secret." Abraham Lincoln (1864) "Any man that uses his teeth to cut 'shaki' from pepper-soup with his eyes wide open is not afraid of anything." Martin Luther King Jnr (1900). "Anyone who thinks he has many enemies has never been with a mountain of f...

HAHAHA *Benefit of sleeping in Church!!* ```While in Church a lady dozed off during preaching she woke up and heard the pastor saying "....stand up on your feet!" She stood up and saw the whole congregation in shock including her husband. She looked round and saw that she was the only person standing!! The pastor continued and said yes keep standing, we have 1 person standing already. Now let me repeat myself in case others didn't hear me! If you are unfaithful in your marriage stand up on your feet!!! The lady fainted!```😨😩😩😩😩😩  Stop_sleeping_in_Church

*CHINUA ACHEBE* ```"A man who calls his kinsmen to a feast does not do so to redeem them from starving. They all have food in their own houses. When we gather together in the moonlight village ground, it is not because of the moon. Every man can see it in his own compound. We come together because it is good for kinsmen to do so. Let us find  time to come together physically and enjoy the power of togetherness. Let's smile not because we don't have problems but because we are stronger than the problems."```Let's keep the bond of unity tight in 2017. Hapi new year !!!

Welcome back *THE EXCHANGE* *Episode 17* I was really scared and thought something had happened to him. His mum kept assuring me that everything was fine. She said she already reported to the Police and there was a search party looking for him. She kept telling me to remain calm because of the baby and that Baba T would be fine. He finally showed up, he looked really unkempt…he gave some cock-and-bull story about where he was for 3 days. I noticed that he came with another guy, his mum knew the guy and thanked him profusely. I also noticed that his mum did not talk to him; she did not even look at him,  hmmm…something seemed iffy but nobody was saying anything. Baba T reached for the baby, his mum almost didn’t hand him over. She later did but it was reluctantly, she kept while ‘eyeballing’ Baba T. We left the hospital later that evening. Some days after that, my mother-in-law said we would be leaving for Nigeria and she had gotten someone to change the tickets for us. We were s...