“I Love Everything about Him!” Read Comedienne Princess Dammy & Her Beau Adeshola Jeremiah’s Love Story

Nigerian comedienne Princess Dammy and her Yoruba movie producer/director beau Adeshola Jeremiah tied the knot on Wednesday 8th May 2013 at the Balmoral Hall, Oregun, Lagos. On her wedding day, Princess Dammy arrived with her father in a grey satin dress, accentuated with blue sequins by Frank Oshodi while her Mr rocked a bespoke navy suit by Mudi. In the latest issue of City People, the ace comic act gushes about her love story; from how they met to prepping for the grand wedding day. Check it out! On what attracted her to Adeshola Jeremiah Well he is a quiet person and if not for the fact that I am into entertainment, I also like my privacy, I don’t like unnecessary show-off. If I go somewhere and they don’t recognize me, that is very okay by me, I just love to be myself. How They Met He saw me when I went for their program in Odunfa Cancus (A Yoruba Theatre Group). I went because of a friend of mine Latifat, who was also trained there. She was in UNILAG and my junior in Theatre Arts. So I went there and that was where he saw me and that was like so many years ago in 2005. Every time I visit my friend, because they are always together, he will see me there, he couldn’t approach me, not because of my status but the fact that anytime I come I will just play with everyone for like 5 to 10 minutes and just zoom off. And I play and smile with everyone but I don’t give that chance that I am easily approachable in order not to draw unnecessary attention. Things Were Different This Time… Then in 2008, he was shooting his own movie, I also went there to see a friend of mine, he saw me again and went to meet that friend of mine, he told her he wanted to meet me that he would want me to play a role in the movie. My friend discouraged him saying if he should meet me, it will look like they didn’t plan themselves well. That same year, he was with that my friend when I came to visit and he told her “I really want to marry Princess” (laughs) and my friend started laughing and she told him it’s not possible. He kept on pestering her and told her why don’t you tell her first and lets hear what she says, she (Latifat) now said I don’t think I can tell her, Princess is my very close friend and I can’t tell her that because Princess doesn’t have time for men now and she has said it’s her work for now. But he continued disturbing her to tell me, so that day we were watching a TV program and I love cooking so she saw a dish and said this dish is very nice how I wish I could eat it now and I said oh you want me to stand up and go prepare this food, so when I went to the kitchen. She later came into the kitchen and said she wanted to tell me something, and I said what is it, she said this person likes me and wants to marry me, so I just started laughing, it was very funny, she felt embarrassed and went back to the sitting room, I asked her why won’t I be embarrassed, when the person told you, why didn’t you just tell him Princess won’t agree and she said that’s exactly what she told the person but the person insisted. I told her to give the person my number, and when he called I was just laughing, he asked “what’s funny”, I said nothing, he now said “well he is Latifat’s friend” and I said yes I know that, and I started bombarding him with questions just to discourage him, so he won’t call again. So when his credit got finished, he called back again. I said this one I have been asking him many questions na wa o but its okay do I have more questions to ask? and I said yes o and started asking him more questions, I asked him questions again till 11:30 PM, he ran out of credit again and called back, and I am like where are you getting all the money for this credit, he just said “don’t worry I will call you back”, when he called back again he asked if I had more questions and I said no because it was already past midnight and we have talking since past 6. Friend to Fiance That was it! We later became friends and got very close, then he said he wanted to marry me and even told me many things about myself. I was quite surprised and wondered how he got to know all about me. That was how we started and things continued but we just decided to keep everything low key. At first I felt it was low key and if he disappionts me, it won’t hurt too much, but when everything became too serious that was how everything went then we started meeting our families and I discovered that some people he knew, were also the same people I know. On her sudden wedding announcement Yes we have been planning it but because my sister was getting married on February 14th, we just felt that hers is the reigning wedding and they were the latest couple, so we concentrated more on hers and also we were trying to avoid the news reaching the press. So I think 3 weeks or about a month to our wedding, we had already done the introduction and that was when we now started distributing the invitations, because we said if we give people the IVs earlier, news will go around. My husband started distributing his cards a month to the wedding but I started 2 and a half weeks to the wedding On not wanting to publicize her Wedding because I just said everybody will hear. The thing is, that’s the kind of person I am. I am just there, I just believe I am like every other Nigerian and even though my work has exposed me and made me to be seen or perceived as a celebrity, my partner is not a public person like that and we just didn’t want too much noise. Even the day I sent text messages to some of my friends, the next day I started reading so many stories on the internet, and you can imagine that people wrote on the internet that Princess is getting married because she was pregnant and now she is trying to get one guy to marry her. It was even my husband who saw it and called my attention to it. He was lying on the couch and just laughing and I was like, what’s funny and who are you chatting with?, he just said there is something they wrote on the internet and I said what, he just said it’s on Facebook, they said you are pregnant, and I said don’t mind them but I just felt bad because people sometimes naturally find it difficult to be happy for others. Even now that I am married, I pray to have kids but you can’t start spreading rumors that somebody is getting married because they are pregnant. You don’t have an insight nor information about them, you can’t reach those people so you just write anything you want. But anyway I didn’t let that bother me, I just kept it to myself. Even when I was rehearsing for my show because we had two different dance routines and it was difficult, so I didn’t even have time to dwell on that. On what she loves most about him I love everything about him and he is very understanding. He understands the essence of us being on earth which is just to worship God and he is God fearing. That’s the first thing I noticed about him and I was even surprised. I have always said If I had choice, I will marry a musician but then which musician can I now marry (laughs). He is very God fearing and at least we are not perfect but if you are God fearing, you will always know when you are doing something wrong. Princess Dammy also speaks on her humble beginnings in the Nigerian comedy industry, her inspiration for jokes and changing from a course in Engineering to Theatre Arts in the University of Lagos. For more details on Princess Dammy’s interview, pick up the new issue of City People Weekly.

TREATMENT FOR LIPS AND EYES

The lips and the eyes of a woman are two important part of her face, when it comes to makeup and skin care. These two parts should be well taken care of, the wear and tear of life activates and the changes in weather and environmental conditions affect the tender issues around the eyes which cause laugh line, hence the eyes need extra support from time to time. The lips also need to be pampered and protected with nourishing product e.g. lip moisturizers, lip mask, lip balm, the eyes should also be treated with daily revitalizing eye creams. Some recommended products are marykay stain lips Dr hauschka daily revitalizing eye cream oil of Olay revitalizing anti aging eye cream. Find enlisted hereunder some useful pro-lip for lips. (1) Mask your lip regularly (2) while scrubbing your face in the morning scrub your lips also to remove dead cell. Follow with lip balms that have moisturizing effect (3) use lip gloss, they moisturizing your lips ensure you take muti-vitamin supplements rich in calcium and magnesium. Those with flax seed oil should also be on regular basis. (4) Cocoa butter and beeswax lip balms are highly recommended for chapped lips. (5) drink lot of water at least 8 glass per day if you can, drink warm water this help to slowly dilate circulatory system and increase the supply of moisture to the body issues. (6) Avoid coffer oil and alcohol as much as possible. (7) Mix 1tea spoon of castor oil, glycerin and lemon juice. Apply mixture on your lips leave overnight, and you are sure of getting healthy lips the next morning. (8) flori Roberts lip oil stick may be applied on chapped lip day and night to achieve smoothness of lips.

Tara Seyi Adesemowo Akinsulore Say’s We Trained Professionals In Make-Up Artistry

Mrs. Tara ‘Seyi Adesemowo nee Akinsulore is highly trained in professional Make-Up artistry, Nail Art, Manicure, Pedicure, Head Gear (Gele Tyeing) and Bridal Hair ensuring you receive expert advice and customer satisfaction. She Uses and recommend quality and tested Make-up brands for a flawless finish to your Make-Up application. Her kit is full of the best in Make-up and from years of experience she has a collection of all favorite things to ensure your Make-Up is Camera ready. Her works and brands have been showcased in various top international and national beauty websites, blogs, events, and beauty magazines.

Tara is a graduate of International Relations from Covenant University, and also worked with Spring Bank plc. Her passion for makeup, fashion and handwork started as a teenager. Her journey as a beauty specialist began in 2009. She is the FOUNDER of Taries World. She is known for the sales and use of unique professional makeup brands, bringing foreign trusted cosmetics for women of colors to Africa. She has the Sole and Exclusive Distribution of Prestige Cosmetics & Studio makeup (includes powder, lipsticks, eyeliners, lip liners etc) in Nigeria and also own her own Makeup Range known as Taries Makeup products (which includes professional makeup palettes and Brushes). She has sales representatives, distributors, stockiest of her brands in all part of Nigeria.

We are the Sole and Exclusive Distributor for Prestige Cosmetics and Studio Make-up in Nigeria. A Cosmetics Brand that has been for over 30years&distributed Worldwide, dedicated to being a leader in its class. The company is a frontrunner in makeup trends & product concepts by going beyond the norm of the competition. Our Brands mission is to elevate the expectations of our customers by developing products and concepts that are beyond the norm of our competition. Our core value is to offer superior quality products at an affordable price. We will elevate the consumers‘shopping experience with our new sophisticated visual persona. Our new appearance in the stores will drive sales growth and capture more market share

SMOKEY EYE PRACTICAL

It is believed that the eyes are the gate to the soul and this is why beautiful eye attract so much attention. Eye make-up is one of the best ways you can enhance your facial features, by making them pop there are a variety of way you can enhance your eyes depending on preference and the shape of your eyes. It is best before one decides to perform the make-up to find out the eye shape. The eye shadow needs to be applied correctly and differently for every eye shape in order to enhance and conceal different part of the eyes. One of the greatest ways to enhance the eyes is with the help of Smokey eye make-up Smokey eyes look great and is a great make-up for formal and less formal occasions. It all depends on the color used to create the make –up. Smokey eyes can be performed using different colors like gray tones, plum tones, green tones, lavender tones, red tones, blue tones, or different combinations like red black and blue choose the color according to the time you are wearing it using lighter colors for daytime and darker colors for nighttime. The best way to create Smokey eyes is by using professional make-up brushes these, make-up brushes will help create the best effect of the Smokey eyes. It is recommended to use a primer on your eyelid before the eye shadow is applied. The primer will ensure a better application of the eye shadow and a longer stay. It is best to use good quality eye shadow because that is the only way you will be able to create the perfect Smokey eyes. Good quality eye shadow has a better coverage and the eye shadow can be easier applied. To create Smokey eyes you will need three eye shadow shades. Shimmery eye shadow looks great on Smokey eyes but matte eye shadow look awesome as well. You can use powder eye shadow or creamy eye shadow, depending on each person preference. Apply the primer to the entire eyelid and apply using a small make-up brush the lighter colored eye shadow on the brow bone take the second lightest eye shadow and apply the eye shadow on the inner corner of the eye the third into the lid. Take the darkest colored eye shadow and apply it on outer corner of the eye working your way on the lid. Make sure you apply a little bit of the dark eye shadow over the second lightest color. Blend the dark colored eye shadow well into your crease by wiggling the brush back and forth. Take a clean brush, a blending brush and blend the dark colored eye shadow with the second colored eye shadow to obtain a uniform transition from one to the other. Apply more eye shadow of each color if necessary. Apply a little bit of the second lighter color eye shadow using an angled brush on your lower lid until about half way starting from the inner corner of the apply the darker color over the outer corner of the lighter eye shadow continuing up towards the outer corner of the eye. Take a liquid eyeliner draw a fine smooth line on your upper lid starting close to your lashes from the inner towards the outer corner of the eye.

WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT ENGAGEMENT MAKE-UP AND GELE

Engagement is the cultural part of the wedding ceremony. Therefore the make you will be doing for the bride must depict culture glamour, colours and elegance. Nowadays bride wear the embroiled traditional ofi attire for their engagement ceremonies sometime they make ofi-lice for the top buba or simply wear a lace to match with the color of the ofi. This ofi is usually knitted with at last two or more colors, you are to pay around the colors on the ofi or the lace of the buba. Another way of picking colors to use for your engagement make-up is also by using colors on the beads worn by the bride. Engagement makeup should be colourful and loud, yet well blinded and aligned. You makeup must be balance. Below is an example of an engagement look which you may try out

Note: this bride is wearing an ofi which is turquoise blue and yellow in colour her buba is butter colour and she will be wearing gold accessories her Italian shoes and bag are gold in colours with sliver tones on them For this bride’s lips you may go for berry red lipstick and clear gloss. Use bronzing powder that is the shade of the bride all over her face, black-up is really nice bronzing powder or you may choose to use your normal bronzer all over the face of the bride and down to her neck. Keep the brusher light and remember to blend while using the loose powder. Gele: engagement gele is all about creativity, there is no magic about it, so release your mind and your hand. We shall be learning how to make two major gele styles in this lesson. This is usually and worn by celebrities and bride in this era. They are the new gele styles in vogue one sa tellite dish and ololufe. Satellite Dish Gele:

Step 1: if the gele is big fold it into two. Step 2: fold the tip of the gele again for thickness at the base. Step 3: start from the back and hold to the front (ensure that you have divided the folded gele into twoequal part). Step 4: overlap the two part of the gele in front to form V and join them together at the back of the bride’s head. Step 5: by now the gele will be standing tall at the middle, pull down the high standing part, still holding the two side of the gele at the back of the bride. Step 6: tie down the two behind very tightly. By now the gele may not be making much sense. Step 7: when you are sure the gele very tight but not too tight to make the bride uncomfortable pick out the part you pressed down in step 5 now it should be pressed in due to the tying. Step 8: when this is done start re-arranging and folding ‘gele’ from the front till you get your desired shape and fold the gele should look this. desired shape and fold the gele should look this. The Ololufe Gele/Iyawo Alhaji Gele. Step 1: fold the base of the gele as you did in step two of the satellite. Step 2: unlike the satellite where you started gele at the back of the bride head, start folding from the front divide gele into two equal part and place on the forehead down to the back. Step 3: overlap gele at the back and bring to the front, it may not be long enough to tie in front so you pin it down. Step 4: after pinning down pres gele down and start making layers carefully on each part of the flaps (you will be using a lot of pin to hold the layers)

Dirty Secrets Of Tonto Dikeh’s Boyfriend Exposed

On Sunday, November 24, 2013, the Exquisite Lady of the Year, ELOY, awards was held in Victoria Island, Lagos. The event was attended by some celebrities. Uti Nwachukwu and Okanrende Maria both anchored the awards show. At the occasion, Tonto Dikeh was announced as the Film Actress of the Year. As she mounted the stage to thank everyone, who supported her through the ranks, the controversial actress also used the occasion to introduce the man in her life. Before now, Tonto had been posting pictures of her boyfriend on her Instagram page, a photo sharing social media platform now commonly used by many celebrities. It is no more news that one Michael Olusola Awujoola is the man behind the sudden joy the Rivers State-born actress is experiencing lately. But what many may not know is the dirty secrets this rich dude, simply called Sola is hiding from some people. We were reliably informed by a source that Sola is not what he is making the world to believe about him. “Forget about the expensive cars Sola is posing with, he is not the real owners of those vehicles. I can tell you without mincing words that the Bugatti he flaunted online isn’t his own,” the source quipped to Aproko247 It was also divulged to us that Sola likes anything in skirt. “His (Sola) love for women is legendary. Once he meets a new catch, he goes extra mile to flaunt his affluence before her. The problem is that he doesn’t even speak good English. His English intonation is mostly mixed with his Ibadan ascent. Tonto must have been moved by one of his show offs because I don’t see anything special in this Ibadan boy,” our source observed. The source narrated further to Aproko247 that, “you see, Sola didn’t come from a rich family. He even struggled to travel to the United Kingdom some years ago. He has a babymama in Dublin, Ireland. His son is also in Kent in England with his mother, who is his wife. I don’t know if Tonto knows about these. “Sola’s father has a house in Ibadan. His father’s house is at Felele in Orita Challenge, Ibadan. The house is a green one storey building and is located by the roadside. If you know that area in Ibadan very well, you will get Sola’s father’s house. It is just opposite Hotel De Bayswater in Ibadan. It is on the main road,” added our source. When questioned on what Sola does for a living, the source explained that Sola is the guy behind the purchase of gold plated accessories most Nigerian celebrities flaunt on social media platforms. “See, Sola is the guy that bought that gold plated iPhone for Tonto. The guy is a concierge. He helps these celebs to shop for some things in the UK for a fee. He gets some reasonable percentage from the deal,” the source said. “Sola Awujola has always wanted cheap publicity. So, I am not surprised that he is using Tonto to do that,” our

WHAT MAKES DABIRA STAND OUT FROM OTHER MAKEUP ARTIST

Dabira is an indigenous Beauty firm duly registered in Nigeria. We specialize in corrective Make up services, giving extra attention to our clients in order to achieve that Extra Ordinary Transformation. Our services are rendered with good understanding to suit the individual at every occasion. We go the extra mile to beautify our clients and we have experiences in various areas of beauty issues.

Areola Sileola Kehinde is the CEO/Chief Principal Beauty Instructor of Dabira Beauty Pro. She is a vibrant and creative young individual who believes that every individual can achieve whatever goal they set their heart out to achieve. Her passion and drive for beauty and fashion has made her stand out in the Makeup/Beauty industry. Creativity is her watchword and passion for excellence in impacting life’s keeps her going. Her vision is to revolutionize the Make up Industry by infusing Fresh, Creative & Personalized Blend into all looks, ultimately to bring out that Uniqueness that defines you. And the mission is to be the Foremost Make-Over Outfit in the Country with World Class Kits & Products coupled with our Professional Touch Up, Just to put a Smile on every Face we encounter.

Young Nigerian couple jailed in the UK for internet banking scam

Nigerian couple, 22 year old Aderoju Bammeke, (pictured left) and his girlfriend 20 year old Jessica Ogunyemi, (pictured right) have been jailed in the UK for being part of a Nigerian gang that hacked into the accounts of several people and stole thousands of pounds from them, Daily Mail UK reports "The couple were part of a global internet banking scam which could have netted a phenomenal £19million after hacking the accounts of nearly 2,500 people. Aderoju and Jessica were the UK 'platform' for a Nigerian 'phishing' scam that made £41,000 in just two months. The plot, masterminded by a gang in Nigeria, involved sending fake emails to customers of banks including Barclays and Halifax. The emails told recipients that their accounts had been hacked and asked them to complete a form with their log-in details. But when victims obliged, Bammeke stepped in and helped the gang log in to steal money. Fashion marketing student Ogunyemi, his girlfriend at the time, helped him launder the proceeds by putting funds in accounts, hiding cash and allowing him to buy her a £2,400 Vauxhall Corsa. Bammeke has now been jailed for three-and-a-half years at Manchester Crown Court after admitting conspiracy to commit fraud and unauthorised computer use. Ogunyemi admitted five counts of money laundering and was given a suspended prison sentence. Michael Lavery, defending Ogunyemi, said she had brought shame on her family, including her train driver father and mother who works for Manchester council. He said she had been 'naive', was predicted to get a first in her degree and was no longer in a relationship with Bammeke. Bammeke had pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing to conspiracy to commit fraud and unauthorised computer use while Ogunyemi admitted five counts of money laundering. Sentencing Bammeke, Judge Recorder Gibson said: 'This in my opinion was a sophisticated fraud, a clever fraud and a fraud which could very easily have resulted in very much more substantial money being stolen.' He jailed Ogunyemi for a year, suspended for two years, and ordered her to complete 180 hours' unpaid work. After the hearing, Detective Superintendent Janet Hudson of TITAN, the North-West Regional Crime Unit, said: 'The actions of Bammeke and Ogunyemi caused a great deal of stress and uncertainty to many affected bank customers who had their accounts accessed. 'As a result of the investigation, no customers were left out of pocket and the offenders were arrested and ultimately sentenced. Internet banking is considered a safe and secure method of banking. 'However, bank customers need to remain vigilant and aware of the danger posed by fraudsters. Customers should only ever navigate directly to an online bank website and should never click on any link sent to them through an email. 'Additionally when accessing bank accounts online customers should always be aware of the exact address in order to ensure that they are actually on a legitimate banking website.' Source: Daily Mail UK

-Tunde Kelani said I Am Not A University Graduate

Tunde Kelani of Mainframe Production fame is a star in the Nigerian and even African movie industry. The veteran producer-cum-movie director has come a long way over the years and he has been setting the pace in the highly competitive film and movie industry and he stands out amongst the lot as a prolific producer.director, who has broken many grounds. He is not following the crowd to churn out movies on a regular basis, but nobody can deny that TK, as he is usually called, is in a class of his own in the industry and he is in a position to discuss most issues affecting the glamorous film industry in Nigeria. Anytime Mainframe releases a movie, it must be a chartbuster, no wonder we still talk about ‘Ti Oluwa Nile,’ ‘Saworoide,’ ‘Ole Ku,’ ‘Arugba,’ amongst others till today. But one surprise package from the talented movie director is that he has never been to the university, at least to study one course or the other. Despite that, TK has been able to prove that one’s talent can stand him out and he did not mince words in revealing some hidden truth about himself and his job in this interview. Tell us about your current project, Dazzling Mirage, what informed it? Dazzling Mirage is a project that I have been planning for almost two years now. I was looking for a people set and I was doing a short film that was made in London which was targeted at the minority in England but not until I came across Yinka Egbokare’s book that I said this is a good story. Dazzling Mirage is a love story, but it has the theme of sickle cell disease but it’s equally entertaining so I decided well it’s time we discuss it. It is time because almost everyday I know how people suffered from that disease and I had some personal experience and thought that there is no enough perception or awareness about it because it can be preventable and it only requires a test and once somebody is diagnosed that is suffering for life, and there is no cure, so I thought yes, number one it’s about time we entertain people with love story but the theme is also important. From Oleku to Abeni and Arugba, how did you come about the cast? I do not consciously decided who will be a cast in the film, it’s important for me to find a well developed story and then we will respond to the demand of that particular story, so It could happen, but I can’t give a guaranty, usually I don’t have an idea of who will lead until the cast is ready. What are the criteria? The criteria sometimes, you may have a good story and if you use a known face, then people are not going to see the film, they will only be looking at the person, so sometimes we deliberately don’t cast like that, and sometimes when you target and put a face, it drags the story down and that I don’t think is good for story telling. We compromise but what we do is we try to have a mixture of everybody, new people, people who are established, people who are experienced in traditional drama and those who are formally trained in the university, so we do a lot of combination and the essence is that the character is so natural, we try to make it natural and I thank that has worked. So the story determines what happens to the casting and if it is a repeated actor or actress that you have once used? Of course it’s the story that will determine whether it will happen or not, I can’t tell, I can’t remember if it has happened but definitely people who dwell with us sometimes join the cast, it depends, even I can’t tell myself, I can’t say for sure that this is what is going to happen until we cast them. For Maami, there were several talks about it because it is believed to be a story written about the late MKO Abiola. How true is this? Maami is just a story of a single parent, a mother bringing up a son, it’s just a bond between mother and son. If it looks like Abiola story, it looks like my story too because we all had more or less the same background, the same no shoes, ‘kaaki’ uniforms, and we went to school, you know all those mothers that tried everything possible, sell everything, fighting everything to make sure we went to school, so that’s everybody story, not specifically Abiola’s story. What are the experiences of being a part of the Asia Film Festival? I have been a judge in one or two festivals, but particularly I was excited to be part of the edition of the festival and being a young person, I was really impressed about the standard of the festival itself which at ground looks like it was older than that, that it has been going on for a long time, you know in terms of the quality of the participation of the film, the facilities and everything was unbelievable. Being a judge, for me, it’s like a preparation for and against my next project because when I am among great film makers, we watch about 23 to 28 films in one week, so its morning, afternoon, every time, it’s just about films and you probably get back at midnight, but at least you have seen pure films in a day for free but suddenly here you are with the best of films in the world and it is the best condition that you can watch a film not available in Nigeria. You see, you learn from all this films, it’s like refueling your own creative background, in decoration and at a plan, you can get what world global cinema looks like and it can determine what your film will be. So there are what I take away from there and then the fact that in Nigeria we still have a long way to go because we don’t have the cinemas, we don’t have the infrastructures, the electricity blink just one seconds throughout, you know things like that but more importantly it is a joy once in a while to be among global creative community and to be accepted, you know as having contributed something and having been deemed qualified to judge other peoples work. From all this you have said it sounds like there was no participation of Nollywood? I think there is a short film from Nollywood from one of the Nigerian young filmmakers, but in other categories I don’t think Nigeria film participated, especially in the Afro Asia category, but I remember we had Burkina Faso and Senegal. Would it be correct to say Nigerian filmmakers are beginning to shoot high budget films, especially for cinemas and thereby pushing DVD into extinction? There is nobody shooting high budget film because we are all shooting low project films. We had a visitor here from America and when he asked for the budget of the film, I said it’s just to spend something like a $150,000 and in truth most of all films we rarely spend over million naira or N25million. And he said how was that possible, you know he stays in America and a low budget flick in the U.S. is about $5million. So, I think we have relatively low budget because you cannot say we want $150,000 movie and put it in the Dubai International Film Festival, you will be almost out of place. So it is true that in Nigeria we are making movies for the cinema because it’s the best most of us have seen, and in distinction, video will be video and the people doing it will continue to be the same and a lot of all those marketers are just trading so they are probably not interested in making movie for the cinema but they want something to sell, it will be a commodity on that level but people who aspire that their films are shown on big screens will also have people who will come, sit down and pay to watch the film. So, I don’t think there will come a time where the video will disappear, it will never disappear because even in America, people are making films straight to DVD release, so in some way, the main thrust of the industry will be making films straight way to DVD or CD release and a few films are released for the cinema. You don’t seem to want to quit anytime soon, how has the journey been? How can I quit? You know this is something that… whether we like it or not it’s an interesting and exciting part. Film making is best for me, I have worked with almost all the known technology for making motion picture, even when we changed to video, there are so many variance of video, we started with analog, VHS, Digital cam, until we get to the main digital era and even then that changing in technology made it more exciting, every time we are doing something new, we are learning new things, so we are going to learn forever, so when my time comes, I will drop down and die and go away, but right now, I feel excited because I still have the experience, I have the maturity, I have technology to make an image. We can make it everyday because we have the tools, we can control the means of production and we have within our power to control the means of production, so it is a blessing to Africa that we have found our voice and I can’t just stop singing, that’s the same with what have been saying. So, how has the journey been? The journey has from day one been challenging, though it has got to do with anything made in Nigeria, it is very difficult and sometimes you start out and your success is not guaranteed, I think we have all failed some of the time, but I think God and supporters have kept us going. Looking at the tough and difficult approach in sourcing for funds for movies, how have you been able to sustain your productions going by how you put your all into every single work? It is certified that I put everything I have in my movie, sometimes I have been supported by friends, family and everybody. Let me give you an example, Maami has been seen almost all over the country, but later I returned to location shooting more scenes for Maami because I felt it’s not there yet, but with those scenes, I was able to offload the complete visuals and that is how I respond to every of my film. But if I didn’t put everything that I wanted to visualize, I will be worried throughout my whole life, so I have to make sure that within the available resources, within the opportunity that Nigeria itself gave me, I must achieve to a very reasonable standard before I leave the industry. Piracy is a big bug affecting the Nigerian entertainment industry as a whole, how do you make your finances back? It’s very difficult because when I work, for instance since we started Mainframe Production from T’oluwa Nile, they still sell in triples, I took the risk, they are all a risk because this should have been my retirement plan, package and so on, but no, we have forgotten about all that, just to make the film, so the thing is supposed to be sort of a plan, but since piracy has reached this level in Nigeria we are all threatened, we have not recovered from Arugba, certainly we didn’t release Maami then and that means we didn’t have any work for the last two years, and the pirates are more daring than ever before because we tried to find out in December and the report is bad and it’s not possible to forfeit the pirates because there is piracy all over the world, but the Nigerian pirates are so disruptive and so wicked that there is no way you can compete with them because they have sold the part of the pirated film so low that nobody can survive on it. I think it is intentional, and I think the government isn’t sensitive enough, the government doesn’t know the damage that they have done to people in the industry, we are just making noise at the moment because the truth is production companies are closing down, and some of those marketers divert to other things. So, if all this is happening, where does your hope lie and why shoot more? I have great poles, I think it is about Africa and Nigeria, it’s about an emerging economic growth and I think that it’s our turn in Africa to do it right and I believe that Nigeria has a major role to play in the growth of the market and the premium. I am waiting for that opportunity, so I’m not going to give up, beside it is not going to go on like this forever, I don’t think Nigeria can afford seeing the country sliding into anarchy, I think we are so important to be ignored by the whole world and I think we are having some economic value, Nigeria is a special country and everybody knows and the whole world knows, so if our government will not do it, there will be intervention from outside, may be if they realize how hopeless some of the obstacles to growth and development are, they will come and do it for us, electricity power, yes they step in, I read that even the World Bank is interested in working with the government to make sure that there is stable electricity. Once there is electricity, then the small and medium enterprises will boom, once they boom, then that’s the time for entertainment, even now, new cinemas are going to be developed for the people and I’m part of the movement to make sure that it happens, so when it happens I already have the content, that’s why I believe that this is not the time to give up, this is the time to really put on my trousers and get on with it. It is generally believed that Kunle Afolayan is fast taking after your footstep, how true is this? Yes because he acknowledges me, he is a young man, he acknowledged that I mentored him, first of all, he learnt a lot about film making from his father and then when he decided that this is what he was going to be doing, he came to me and I decided to mentor him, and I’m very proud of him. When our film was presented in the last Africa 2012 in London, Maami was screened at 2 o’clock and Phone Swap followed up at 5 o’clock. During the question and answer time, Kunle called me up, telling everyone that there is somebody here who mentored him and I said; ‘am proud of you,’ because he is not the first person that is going to pass through me, but he is a success story and he is rising fast, he is committed, he is focused, he is passionate about the quality of his work, so what else can we ask for. Cinematography, film making, how did it become your passion? No oh! When I was very young, I didn’t know I was going to go into film and cinematography, but I started from my primary school days, you know, I have always wanted to be a photographer and through my secondary school I have had more than five cameras, with a friend, we learnt to process our film, we knew how to mix the chemical, we knew the chemistry of photography and we finally crashed in on a photographer who had left during the civil war to go back home, we went into his jack pile and took over, and we started to process our film, so that was in secondary school. So, when I was leaving secondary school, it became clear that I couldn’t do any other thing, but photography and look how photography has involved in the present Nigeria today, there are now specializations, fashion photography, but I took to motion picture because I was fascinated by the cinema when I was young and I saw all the films that came into Lagos and not only that, I also read lots of literature, I read for pleasure, so the combination of this helped me. How many adaptation have you made? In fact, I think have done more adaptation than mixture, if you can count from Ko se Gbe, Oleku, Thunder Bolt, The Narrow Path, White handkerchief, Maami, then the new one Dazzling Mirage those are the adaptation. Why that love for adaptation of books into movies? That is simply because I read everything, I have said that nobody can make a good thing without reading, therefore I read all reading materials around, I read a lot, for me it is very important because I have recognized the combination of literature and drama and I have a million story to tell. Not only that, I love the books, I love the authors too, I found the writers, I dogged them out, Kola Akinlade, Pa Amos Tutuola, Cyprian Ekwensi, Akinwunmi Ishola, Adebayo Faleti, Wale and Ogunyemi, I love to read books from Wole Soyinka, I have always been around writers. So, you went straight to the university to study film making or what? I have never attended a university, I thought I didn’t need that because I became an apprentice photographer when I left secondary school, but later, when I joined television, I saw that the things we are seeing on television is not the same as the American film I see in the Cinema, that’s when I had to apply to the London Film School, so I have a professional diploma in Art and Techniques of film making from London Film School, that and my factual experience is the university. What you have and what you can be able to give is far more than that of people who have gone to the university. I think in a different way, I think we have all gone to the university irrespective of what our passion may be, because if you look at our local drummers, who have spent about eight years learning the technology and techniques of drumming and the language of the drum, so is a language. And that means they have been through someone like master, if they were graded by that particular system, I think that is what they need because occasionally there is the aspect of the fetish and the theory of dignity, which I did from the elementary part in the London School and socialization was discouraged and people who read English, journalism coming together in the class and we were expected to go through the same, so inevitably, we learn film history, so occasionally I found myself invited to a forum and ‘am the only one who is not speaking and ‘am the only one who is not a PhD, sometimes I tell them not as view that I’m one of them, I’m not one of you, really I’m a film maker in the practical area and you are theorists, so deal with your area, it’s not my area. How did you find time to say I need a rest, I need to have fun? What is the rest? What can you do when you are resting? When you are resting that means perhaps you are lying on your bed or so, but the film making is so natural and an extension of my body that necessarily you have to read, so when I’m resting that means I’m reading, so I’m already resting and most of the time, you study film. So, I’m already watching movie and then some of the time when you go out to make a film, you get critical in a sense, so I’m already exercising and then organizing and taking part and arranging the performance and just sitting down and asking people to do it for you, what more reward can you get? If someone who was not used to making film is being asked, he would think we are spending the money for fun, you know it could be a dance, music, DJ and all that, he will say this people are just throwing my money away, but for me, the work is there, existing and they have a lot of varieties in it. Of course occasionally you could go out and say let’s go to location rekee or let’s go to Ghana and then they head up to Ghana, but me, that’s again my vacation, because not only are you enjoying yourself, but you are actually documenting some of the process that will give birth to something that you valued and to the larger society. Do you see yourself leaving these for your children to continue? You see that is interesting because my kids are not interested and I like that. They know all about this, they grew up in the studio, at least they spent 10 years of their life in the studio here and just that they took part in one or two things and so on, but by the time they got ready to leave for university, they didn’t want to start their life thinking they want to be apprentice, they want to do greater things, when I was young, I freed my mind for it too, it was an adventure as a young boy to tell his father that I don’t want to go to university, actually I wanted to be an apprentice as a photographer and that my father realized that yes this a passion for something he has done and agreed, so that’s why I couldn’t directly interfere and the children didn’t think this is what they want to do. So, not even one has shown interest? No, not necessarily, you know because I think it’s a passion and the talent, if they don’t have the same passion or passion that is greater than myself, it will be a mistake to push them into it. I think children should identify what they love and their passion and then be ready as a parent to sacrifice, to invest their time and money to attain whatever they decided. So, I think the way mine evolved is more of an example; it is not that I’m a businessman with an empire, it’s a creative thing, a creative industry and if they found it, yes I would support it. What informs your dress sense, it has never changed from African? It’s changing because I have experimented it when I was young, I’ve experimented looking inward, for me, what our fabrics colour commonly known like rainbow, so this again is expression for me and at a time, I will experiment a particular fabrics and combination of colours and how I’m going to use them, you know there are traditional style which from time to time I’ve always experimented, that’s why I can’t own Agbada because I thought, for me, it is too much, I don’t need it, it’s a waste of materials, then I look at traditional Buba which is at the best, it’s just putting a hole for your head and put in something for your hand. I am more interested in that, and that is the problem because if all of us apply the education, it will work, and we didn’t allow the colonial mentality to get to us, we could have done a lot more to what we are doing and that would have boosted the local economy, that’s why when people earn a living, things like that, so if they don’t apply that in all areas of life, of course the society, the economy will be more buoyant. So, how would you describe the man Tunde Kelani? Very ordinary person! I’m just me, there’s nothing more to it. I can’t be a king, a chief or anything, but I can only be what I am, just a filmmaker. And you are so content with it? What do you want me to do? I don’t think I have a problem with who or what I am or myself because there’s nothing to it and my needs are minimum, material possession, food and anything, they are just simply minimum.

Sanyeri Duped Fans Of Millions Of Naira Through Wedding ‘Aso Ebi’

On Sunday, December 1, 2013, popular actor, Olaniyi Afonja, better known as Sanyeri, staged a societal wedding in Lagos. The event, according to those who attended it, failed to live up to expectations based on the noise that was made about it before the d-day. The wedding was meant to be a mega event, but we learnt that it was poorly organised and it has been alleged that Sanyeri’s greed destabilised the whole arrangement previously made to make the event A-list. Before the wedding day proper, which was held at The Anchor Event Centre in Ikeja, Lagos fans of the comic actor, who intended to attend the wedding, were asked to purchase an ‘aso ebi’, which will serve as a gate pass to the occasion. It was said that fans were asked to pay the sum of N20,000 to the actor’s account for six yards of the Ankara fabrics for the wedding. However, on getting the Ankara material, it allegedly turned out to be of a low quality. That was the beginning of the ordeal of the victims of Sanyeri’s ‘alleged dubious deeds. The said fabrics is believed not to worth more than N2,500 (two thousand five hundred naira) in the market, but that the actor fraudulently duped his fans by selling it for N20,000 per six yards. Sanyeri also reportedly sold the video rights to his wedding to a marketer called Exel for the sum of N1 million. A committee was allegedly set up to see to the occasion described as ‘money making event’. Sanyeri and his wife, Awanu Omolara Jimoh, have been living together as for eight years before they officially tied the knot penultimate Sunday. They have produced two children from their relationship.

WE CAME TO LAGOS TO BUY BABY

Detectives at the State Criminal Investigation Department, Panti, Yaba, Lagos, western Nigeria have intensified efforts to recover all the stolen babies allegedly bought by an Onitsha-based human trafficker who was arrested in Lagos last Monday for purchasing a stolen two-year old baby. This followed the confessional statement made by the trafficker, Mrs. Grace Onye, 52. Onye told the police that she specialises in the illegal business of buying babies in Lagos for sale to those who required them. In her confession, she admitted that it was not her first time of coming to Lagos to buy babies, adding that she had been coming to Lagos to buy babies in the past three years. She told the police that she sold all the babies to those in need, especially barren women. She was arrested along with her customer, 45-year old Mrs. Ngozi Ikeh who is barren and needed a child. They were arrested at Ikotun in the morning while going back to Ontisha with a stolen baby sold to them for N300,000 by their contact man who is now at large.

The suspects confessed that they had a contact man simply identified as Samuel who usually lodged them at Francis Inn Hotel located at Abiola Adeyemi Street, Igando Road, Ikotun whenever they are in Lagos to buy babies. Grace confessed further that it was in that hotel that Samuel brought the baby and collected N300,000. Joy Olowolade, the two-year old stolen baby was allegedly kidnapped at 6, Oladunjoye Street, off Igando Road, Ikotun Lagos. Samuel abducted the baby at the stated address in a dramatic form around 4 p.m. on Monday when he threw a banger in the compound where Joy was playing with other kids. The sound of the banger caused confusion in the compound and the children ran away in different directions. When the dust settled, Joy was nowhere to be found. Her elder sister, Eniola Olowolade, after a frantic search for her, alerted her parents, Ayodele and Funke Olowolade, of her disappearance. Funke explained that one of her neighbours confirmed that she saw the man who snatched the baby during the confusion that greeted the explosion of the banger. Olowolade and neighbours later arranged themselves in groups to look for the missing baby. They searched for Joy in every house and street in the neighbourhoods but could not find her. Narrating her experience, Funke stated: “It all happened like a dream, Joy told me she was hungry and I was preparing her food when she went out to play with her friends in the compound. Within the twinkling of an eye Eniola rushed in to tell us that somebody threw a banger in the compound and everybody ran away. She said she didn’t see Joy when the commotion died down. “We searched all the nooks and crannies till midnight. She was nowhere to be found,” Funke said. At about 4 a.m. the following day, the Olowolades and their neighours moved round the streets again looking for Joy. They saw a woman walking briskly and carrying a baby on her back with her friend. Somebody shouted the name of the missing baby and Joy answered ‘ma.’ Immediately the baby answered, the trafficker and her friend ran. They tried to drop the baby but they were caught by the rescuers. They were beaten and later handed over to the police at Ikotun division who transferred them to the SCID for further investigation.

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT KUDDY

Kuddy Cosmetics is a family owned and operated business that deals with distributing, wholesaling and retailing of cosmetics, hair care and various beauty products in Lagos, Nigeria. Kuddy Cosmetics was founded in the 1980's by Kudirat Fashola and it's first shop opened on Bankole street in Lagos Island. Kuddy Cosmetics is the sole distributor of Black Opal products and has a global network with major cosmetic brands world wide. With more than 5 retail stores and 2 wholesale locations in Lagos, Kuddy Cosmetics takes a self-service approach to buying makeup, fragrances, and skin care products. We offer more than 200 brands of prestige products, including our own brand and line of products, most of which customers are encouraged to sample. Kuddy Cosmetics also has a retail and wholesale outlet online at kuddycosmetics.com.

JAJAJE STORE BEGINS 50% DISCOUNT PROMO FOR CHRISTMAS SALES

JAJAJE STORE BEGINS 50% DISCOUNT PROMO FOR CHRISTMAS SALES Jajaje, the wave-making fashion and beauty accessories store situated at Shop D3D inside Abeni Plaza at 52 Ligali Ayorinde Street, Victoria Island, Lagos, has commenced a 3-week Thanksgiving promo designed to give shoppers a 50% discount on all classes of items purchased till 14th December 2013. The A-list Store, which has a growing reputation as the most exclusive in the area of ladies’ corporate wears, is brimming with stylish quality suits, trousers, dresses, shoes, bags and a vast range of other beauty products. Its growing clientele consists mainly of upwardly mobile, corporate ladies and undergraduates with great tastes and excellent appreciation of value for money quality. Jajaje’s mission and business focus has been heavily weighed on establishing strong reputation and timeless style of service delivery with consideration for class, elegance, style, comfort and convenience of clients. Located in the heart of Nigeria’s corporate world, Jajaje offers female bankers and other corporate highflyers a unique and innovative environment to satisfy their taste for pleasure and style when it comes to choosing their corporate wears and fashion accessories.

WHO IS THE BEST MAKEUP ARTIST OUT OF THESE MAKEUP ARTISTS

OJULOGE

Airbrush Makeup is the High definition technology in Makeup Artistry which has improved from time-to-time. Unlike traditional makeup (where you rub into your skin), airbrushing sprays a fine mist of special light water-based foundation on you, so the makeup “sits evenly” on your skin. Although the Airbrushing is not a new invention however in Nigeria, not much is known of this ‘wonder of Makeup technology’ called Airbrushing in Nigeria, hence OJULOGE is proud to be the pioneer of this great technology in Nigeria. Ojuloge Arts Beauty World is a Makeover, Beauty and Event Management Company, with core competence in skill acquisition and youth development. Ponmile Funsho-Adebayo, the CEO of Ojuloge Arts Beauty World commenced her makeover operation in 2008 and has been consistent since then. And according to Ponmile, her quest for the best when it comes to fashion and makeup made her to go learn the arts and skills in Airbrushing.. TARA

This beautiful mum of three boys is the founder and CEO of House of Tara International. From her humble beginnings as a fledgling make-up artist, she has become the leading pioneer of beauty and makeup in Nigeria. Talented makeup artist Irantiola Funmilola of Abeke Makeovers was recently recognised as the best makeup artist in Nigeria by City People .The award was given to her recently in Lagos, Nigeria ENI BALOGUN

The make-up artist association spearheaded by Eni Balogun (pictured above) of LISE Makeovers and Henry Okonkwo of House of Gele, two years ago had outlined series of activities to the take the association PCMAN to another level. A lot of processes are going on to ensure that the quality of make-up artists on the scene is of high standard and also eradicate the half baked make-up artists who have flooded the scene. Ololade Fanimokun.

Facetalk Beauty was founded by the very gorgeous Ololade Fanimokun. She is undoubtely a high spirited young woman with a large appetite for beauty. She says beautiful people make her happy. In her own words, "Every woman is beautiful, it's about carrying out your own style in the best way that fits you, and polish the beauty you've got." Her route into makeup and beauty is only natural after she nursed a love for red lipstick from the age of five. She possess and amiable smile, infectious personality and charming beauty. Banke

A professional makeup artist by default, Banke took fine art lessons from the age of eight after showing a keen interest in the arts. Highly skilled in the art of makeup, she has created her own signature looks which dictates makeup trends at home and abroad. It all began while at college she would make herself up perfectly and ask to use friends and family as models on whom she'd mix one or two eyeshadow colors on (always had a thing for eye makeup!). Couple of celebrity weddings later and word went round about this talented artist and the rest is history.... Abeke Makeovers

Talented makeup artist Irantiola Funmilola of Abeke Makeovers was recently recognised as the best makeup artist in Nigeria by City People .The award was given to her recently in Lagos, Nigeria.

OJULOGE TAKES MAKEUP TO THE NEXT LEVEL; PIONEERING AIRBRUSH MAKEUP

Airbrush Makeup is the High definition technology in Makeup Artistry which has improved from time-to-time. Unlike traditional makeup (where you rub into your skin), airbrushing sprays a fine mist of special light water-based foundation on you, so the makeup “sits evenly” on your skin.Although the Airbrushing is not a new invention however in Nigeria, not much is known of this ‘wonder of Makeup technology’ called Airbrushing in Nigeria, hence OJULOGE is proud to be the pioneer of this great technology in Nigeria.Ojuloge Arts Beauty World is a Makeover, Beauty and Event Management Company, with core competence in skill acquisition and youth development. Ponmile Funsho-Adebayo, the CEO of Ojuloge Arts Beauty World commenced her makeover operation in 2008 and has been consistent since then.And according to Ponmile, her quest for the best when it comes to fashion and makeup made her to go learn the arts and skills in Airbrushing.“As an artist, my first encounter with Airbrush was at the University of Ife in the year 1995, when one of my senior colleagues (now a lecturer) in the Fine Arts Department used it to make customized cards used to make different stencils and sprayed inks on the cards. My love for this ART made me attach myself to this senior colleague, and who informally enrolled me as an apprentice under him, using Airbrush gun to make cards, wall papers, temporary tattoos etc. And we did make a lot of money…LOL!However, my quest for the best when it comes to fashion and Makeup, and especially Airbrush makeup made me go for many international trainings in the USA to learn the Arts and Skill in Airbrushing. Some of the places where I have learnt Airbrushing Makeup in the USA are AirMakeup in Blackwood New Jersey and Divine Creations (Makeup & Hair) in Maryland USA.My dream is to take the Nigerian Home videos to the international standard in the aspect of Makeup, and this is one step towards that. It hurts me when I see a good script, good directors and cast, but bad costume and Makeup to reflect and translate the script. My dream is to bring this to reality…making Nollywood stand out in the international market in Makeup and Costume”.Airbrushing is used for regular makeup e.g. Bridal Makeup, Theatrical makeup (Creating Creatures, monsters, forms etc), prosthetic makeup, Fantasy makeup for fashion shows etc, temporary tattoo making, face and body painting etc. The use of this technique is endless.

Bank of Thieves: How Stanbic IBTC Stole Customer’s Funds

The commitment of Stanbic IBTC bank, a member of the Stanbic Group to increase the Nigerian content in the oil and gas sector has come under serious questioning of industry watchers following alleged shady dealings capable of soiling the reputation of the bank, The Premier reports. This became evidence as the board and management of the bank are seriously battling to extricate themselves of allegation of conspiracy, forgery, unauthorized withdrawal, diversion of funds and stealing totaling N489.2million levied against the bank and one of its management staff Oladele Kuti by Lonestar Drilling Nigeria Limited, an oil and gas company. The company had through a petition to the Special Fraud Unit (SFU) The company had through a petition to the Special Fraud Unit (SFU) dated 11th March 2013 written by its lawyer, Barrister Dapo Oluyede sought the assistance of the Unit to investigate professional misconduct allegedly perpetrated by Stanbic IBTC Bank, one Oladele Kuti, the company’s account officer and some indicted directors of the company. It was gathered that the founder Lonestar Drilling Nigeria Limited, Late Chief Henry Idisi took some loan facilities from a consortium of banks namely; African Export import Bank (AFREEXIM), Standard Bank of South Africa, Stanbic IBTC and Diamond bank for the financing of two oil rigs which it intended to buy to service a contract with Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) for its upstream operation code named rigs 203 and 204 in 2006. The loan deal proved lucrative for both parties as Lonestar was expected to make a daily turnover of $240,000 from the two oil rigs. Also it was agreed that the daily proceeds be paid into Stanbic IBTC account to service the loan facilities.

The loan servicing appeared to be moving smoothly until three years later when Chief Idisi took ill and later died in November 2009 in the United State of America. The widow of the deceased Chief (Mrs.) Margaret Idisi who acknowledge and understanding of the loan had to observe the mandatory one year mourning period in honour of her late husband. However, one year was enough for the account officer and Stanbic IBTC bank to fraudulent sell off the company, divert the company’s fund and sell off some of its properties through the active connivance of some directors of the company. This they did by allegedly forging the signature of the deceased founder for an extend loan agreement. Curiously, the bank and indeed the account officer, Oladele Kuti failed to provide document of the entire loan deal and records of their deductions from the company’s coffers in servicing the loan. However, an audit of the company account carried out by Pedabo Auditing Company indicted directors and board members of the company which culminated in their eventual sack by the Chairperson, Chief (Mrs.) Idisi upon her resumption as the CEO of the company. The decision to terminate the appointment of the indicted directors was communicated to the bank. But in a move that smacks conspiracy the bank management still paid the indicted former directors their monthly salary a year after they were sacked. The bank management were said to have insisted that they would only abide by the laid down instructions and account mandate agreement signed by the known signatories of the company to the bank even If they were indicted by the audit report of Pedabo in 2011 and subsequently sacked. The bank management were said to have insisted that they would only abide by the laid down instructions and account mandate agreement signed by the known signatories of the company to the bank even If they were indicted by the audit report of Pedabo in 2011 and subsequently sacked. Oladele Kuti As if that was not worse enough, the bank management allegedly supervised the sale of the company to one a phony company and appointed one of the indicted directors, Francis Atoju as the new MD of the company. Worse still, the bank in connivance with the indicted former directors also reportedly sold the company’s Ocean vessel (MV Kinklock) bought at a cost of N200million for a paltry N100million just as it also sold two heavy generators of the company bought for N10mmiliion each for N50million each. The gravity of the allegation prompted SFU detective to swing into action by inviting the account officer, Oladele Kuti and the former MD of the company, Engr. Francis Amene for questioning while two other, John Esegbuya and Ben Agadagba are still at large. After an intensive investigation, the detective have enough evidence to establish a prime facie case of conspiracy, forgery, diversion of funds, fraudulent/unauthorized withdrawal and stealing against Oladele Kuti, Stanbic IBTC Bank, Luqman Agboola, Engr. Francis Anene, John Esegbuye, Ben Agadagba and others. Police sources informed our correspondent that the interrogation of the account officer was quite revealing. The principal suspect purportedly confessed in his statement under caution to have received some document from the company management and the Chairperson of Lonestar Drilling Nigeria Limited but added that the bank management did not honour it because there was no board resolution removing the former directors at the time the letter was sent to the bank. He claimed that all he did was to take instructions from the management and the legal department in line with the mandate given to the bank. He also claimed that the sacked gave the mandate to sell the Ocean vessel and the giant generators. Investigation by the magazine reveals that Oladele Kuti is a banker with high profile. He joined Stanbic IBTC Bank in 2006 after a brief stint at Standard Chartered bank. He has about 17years of banking experience and he is currently the Head of the Energy Finance group and a member of the senior management of Stanbic IBTC. Oladele has been involved in energy finance deals and actively participated in the finance structure of the deal in excess of $2biilion including; $625million oil field acquisition and development funding; $200million field development funding and various downstream structured trade finance in excess of $500million However, the banker may have laced his pocket with money realize from understand deals inimical to the status of a senior management staff of an international bank. Oladele purportedly told his interrogators he maintains two foreign accounts with Barclays International Bank and Citibank, New York. He also confessed to own two bank accounts domiciled at Stanbic IBTC and Guaranty Trust Bank (GTB) where fraudulent transfers from Lonestar Drilling Nigeria limited were lodged. His lodgments into the latter account that he transferred a sum of N14.3million on 1st September 2009. He also transferred the sum of N75million into the GTB account on 20th May 2008. Oladele’s fraudulent transfer into his GTB’s account also include N59million on the 9th June 2008, N9million on 2nd June 2008 with yet transfer another lodgment of N50million same day. The banker also deposited N30million into his account on 22nd May 2008 while on 13th March 2009, he deposited N11million. Source say that the principal suspect invested the total sum of N248.3million with GTB using fake identity as the photograph in the account document does not bear his true resemblance. Furthermore, the banker is said to own two private oil companies registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), 3 bedroom flat at UPDC Estate, Lekki and another 6 bedroom flat at Ikorodu as well as landed properties at Olambe, Mowe and mortgage property in London. The SFU has therefore slammed a nine-count charge against Stanbic IBTC Bank and Oladele Kuti bordering on conspiracy, forgery, unauthorized withdrawal/diversion of fund and stealing at the Federal High Court, Lagos. But in a brief chat with the premier over the weekend, the principal suspect maintained his innocent even as he rubbished claims that various sums of money were found in his account. While noting that the matter is presently in court, Oladele, however referred further enquiries on the matter to his lawyer, barrister Biodun Aikhomu from Olanihun Ajayi LP, who declared that the allegation against his client amount to nothing “as nothing can be proved against Mr. Oladele Kuti in court” According to him, “the truth of the matter is that Lonestar took a loan from a consortium of banks running into $220million in port Harcourt. The banks must recoup their money. The position of the law is different from position of sentiment. The bank cannot go against the mandate given to it by the company. The bank cannot change the mandate because someone is the wife of the owner of the company. Things don’t work like that. The case is in court and we are waiting for them to come and prove their case. We don’t believe in newspaper judgment. My client did his job as required by standard practice.” Attempt to speak with officials of the bank was not successful. However, one Adewole Ojo, who claimed to be a PR Consultant to the bank responded to enquiry. In an email sent to the Premier dated 19th October 2013, Ojo was not forthcoming with a tangible response. “Thank you for enquiry regarding Lonestar Drilling Nigeria Limited vs 8 others, including Stanbic IBTC. As you are aware, there is a case on this matter in the Federal High Court, Port Harcourt and this precludes us from commenting on this matter.”We would like to state however that Stanbic IBTC is a responsible corporate citizen, with confidence in the nation’s legal system, which will show when concluded, that we acted appropriately in this matter,” the statement read