US MISSION DENIES, DENYING DR. DAVID OYEDEPO VISA IN STORY THAT HAS GONE VIRAL

Bishop David Oyedepo

We all woke up to the story today stating matter of fact that billionaire founder and presiding Bishop/pastor of the Living Faith Ministry aka Winner's Chapel in the person of the fiery and enigmatic Bishop/Dr. David Oyedepo, had been denied visa by the US Consulate in Nigeria.

The news of the kind of unpalatable treatment meted out on the pastor, who is neither a politician nor a businessman, met with shock and disbelief from all and sundry. The story was in fact credited to one of the top 5 Newspapers in Nigeria, which is the This Day Newspaper, founded and owned by the highly connected, Prince Nduka Obaigbena aka the Duke.

But after the story had gone more than viral, with many online outlet carrying it with pomp and energy like they were there when the thing actually occurred (we didn't carry the story at all), a rejoinder has now come out, purportedly to be from the verified US Missions Abuja Twitter account, denying that what the story had stated happened, or never even occurred. The story has now been tagged as FALSE!

One of the reasons the story met with shock and total disbelief is because, it is a known fact that the Bishop of Winners has been acknowledged credibly to be the wealthiest pastor in the world, said to be worth in excess of $150m Dollars, that's even just a suggested estimate as it might be a far cry from what he is actually worth. Same person has atleast 4 private jets, branches of his church are all over world, even in the United States itself, with congregation in their hundreds of thousands from across the globe. His HQ alone fathers tens of thousands of worshippers at a go. He owns at least 2 well funded, well known and probably some of the best Nigerian higher institutions amongst several investments. And he is said to be an avid traveler, who has traversed the world, so can be classified as a world traveler, then he is very very connected in and outside Government. So based on all of these and more people were shocked 😲!

So most would be relieved now, that the story has been tagged as false. 

On Ambode's Stunted Re-election...By Olaleye Olawale

Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Akinwunmi Ambode 

I'm not an Akinwunmi Ambode person, and that is public knowledge. But it will be utterly unfair for Asiwaju Bola Tinubu to force him to a primary, when the practice has always been that governors of the party are given the right of first refusal across the nation. The choice of direct primary is clearly designed to humiliate him, because even governors, who failed to win their second term election didn't have to struggle for their tickets in the party.


I can't comprehend the logic behind it except that it is a grossly dishonest choice, informed by sheer political greed. The same Tinubu who allegedly asked some prospective aspirants to a particular senatorial seat in the state to back off, because the present occupant deserves the right of first refusal? And a few weeks to the primary, a Lagos governor does not know his fate? Haba!

Now, the leader will hide under the facade of following party's decision to teach the governor some lessons, because, like it or not, it is who they allow to vote that would vote and the outcome is inevitably guided. Watch out for the guidelines soon. You will be stunned!

Pray Ambode does not make it at the primary otherwise, we will be here to analyse the consequences, going forward. Recall I said recently that the process is the only thing that has changed as far as direct primary is concerned, albeit in name. The result will always be at the behest of the leader. The message is one: 'Baba so pe' and the followers will go in one straight line. Just another "ziggy" in the offing!

Perhaps, Ambode too would have learnt a lesson or two, both in human relations and political strategy. He set the tone for the corner he is boxed today from the word go. His vindictive disposition and needless disregard for the political class except Tinubu might have come to haunt him.

Anyway, welcome to Lagos, Nigeria's most cosmopolitan city, where the educated have been hypnotised into political zombies by one man.

Olaleye Olawale writes for ThisDay Newspaper.

THANKS CHAIRMAN OBAIGBENA- 3 MONTHS PAID TODAY

3 down, one more to go. That's the current situation at ThisDay, where the workers had stopped working temporarily over unpaid salaries said to for about 4 months. After downing tools for a couple of days and subsequent negotiation between the management and the staff union, a middle point was reached today. The staffers were paid 3 months out of the said 4 months that was owed them.

So both sides have reached a compromise and work has started back at the newspaper company in earnest. So all we fans of our Sunday-Sunday tonic on lifestyle, ThisDay Style & Glitterati will get our weekly dose from this upcoming Sunday. It's a big hurray!!!

THISDAY NEWSPAPERS TEMPORARILY SHUTDOWN!

 

PRINCE NDUKA OBAIGBENA, Publisher ThisDay Newpapers & Arise Magazine

It's not the best of times presently at one of the best Newspaper companies in Nigeria. As we speak or better still, as this report is coming out, the management of ThisDay Newspapers are doing all that's possible to try to negotiate with the staff union of the company, who are the cause of the shutdown. 

Major reason for the temporary shutdown from our investigation, is the prolong non-payment of staff members salaries owed for several months (Some say it's just for 3 months, others argue it might be longer than that). So when the aggrieved staff members couldn't cope no more with unfulfilled promises of we would soon pay, they resorted to industrial action culminating in the shutting down of production at the award winning newspaper company headquarters in Apapa, Lagos. 

According to our investigations, the company has temporarily shifted operational base to the Protea Hotel, Awolowo Road, Ikoyi, Lagos since Wednesday, May 8, 2013, where key staffers are temporarily working from, so that the readers wouldn't miss getting their regular dose, ThisDay style. We hear printing is been done at Jimoh Ibrahim's Mirror Newspapers. According to unconfirmed reports, the staff union members nearly had a confrontation with the chairman of the company in the person of Prince Nduka Obaigbena, with many vowing to manhandle him if he had appeared. 

We don't know how soon the present cul-de-sac would be sorted out. But as soon as progress is made we would inform our readers. 

LAGOS & LONDON GETTING READY FOR LANRE ALFRED'S HIGH LIFE: THE AMAZING LIFESTYLES OF NIGERIA'S RICH & FAMOUS

AKOGUN LANRE ALFRED

Olanrewaju Alfred is one of the best society/entertainment writers Nigeria has ever come across, presently he is the group society editor at ThisDay newspaper, where he holds the reins on the society pages of glitterati magazine, which has become the sunday, sunday medicine of the high and mighty. 

There's a way, the wordsmith constructs and pen is pages that has endeared it to all, even while lampooning his subject sometimes, he fetes & serenades them to high heavens before stylishly opening their can of worms for all to see. He daily moves around with and rub shoulders with the colossi of businesses and the decision makers in our clime.

As we speak, the society writer extraordinaire is putting finishing touches to one of the best things to happen to the literary world in Nigeria. We have tagged it- Something beautiful, something great, something 'unputdownable', this way comes, it's called High Life:Amazing lifestyles of Nigeria's rich & famous. The 300 pages of well researched coffee table book, is an all colour, all gloss work that chronicles the lifestyle of the super rich, the famous and very influential that dots our clime. It showcases our multimillionaires & billionaires, as they wine & dine & relax amidst very plenty. It's  revelation into the world of the very 'liquid'.

In the words of the author- ''The literary effort intends to fill a void amidst the deluge of news and literature markedly representative of contemporary industry Titans & Celebrity Journalism.

The first of its kind in the Nigerian media space, this 300-page coffee table book, with foreword written by Bashorun Dele Momodu, is a product of many years of research and journalistic odyssey spanning over a decade, seeks to record the most incisive and fascinating happenstances and personages, high-flying corporate entities and celebrity culture.

It is billed to serve as a remarkable archive of the faces and brains behind Corporate Nigeria's most brilliant and extraordinary business forays, as well as the amazing, yet, didactic lifestyles of the creme of Nigeria's high-society. 

So get ready to hear about the the lives of those who make the economy move, the highly placed and gloriously influential, wheelers & dealers, the business colossi who opens doors in all parts of the world. Get to see them cruising their Gulf-streams, Bombardiers, Citations, Embraers, Cessnas, Learjets etc, driving in their Lamborghinis, Mesaratis, Bugattis, McLarens, Ghosts, Phantoms, Maybachs, Aston Martins, Ferraris, Bentleys etc, cruising around the waters of Lagos, Monaco in their impressive Yachts. Check out their palatial edifices called homes around the world, which gives those still dreaming a glimpse of what heaven would look like. It would also give you an insight into the playthings of the super rich, their collections of Audemars Piguet, Rolex watches, Cartiers, Patek Phippe, Baume & Mercier, IWCs, etc.

So come the month of April 2013 at a date yet to be announced in Lagos, venue is the  Muson Center on the Island and then in London, the people who make things happen would gather to launch the book & celebrate at the same time a jolly good fellow, who though quiet, has learnt to wine & dine with the people who count and by extension also called one of their own. The one, the only Akogun Olanrewaju Alfred.

We hear that those who know have already booked many copies ahead for their libraries. Right as we speak, the final touches to the highly anticipated book is being done in Dubai, the UAE.

ANOTHER BIG ONE FOR NDUKA OBAIGBENA AS ARISE Media Launches Global TV Network

GLOBAL LAUNCH OF ARISE NEWS

PRINCE NDUKA OBAIGBENA

 After two days of test broadcasting, a 24-hour international TV news operation set to rival existing giants in the global market will ‘soft launch’ today, February 4, 2013, broadcasting from its main News Centres in London, New York, Johannesburg and Lagos.

ARISE NEWS, will have a strong African footprint and serve undeserved communities in the USA and other parts of the world, supported by a further eight bureaux around the globe stretching from Beijing to Rio de Janeiro.

A sister channel, ARISE 360, which will be entertainment-based with fashion, music sport and pay per view films, will start broadcasting toward the end of this year.


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