US court approves same sex marriage nationwide

                                                    
The United States Supreme Court on Friday delivered a historic ruling legalising same sex marriage across the country.
In the historic judgement, Justice Anthony Kennedy said gays, like every normal human, have the right to be happy.
She said, "No union is more profound than marriage, for it embodies the highest ideals of love, fidelity, devotion, sacrifice and family. In forming a marital union, two people become something greater than they once were.
"Their hope is not to be condemned to live in loneliness, excluded from one of civilization's oldest institutions. They ask for equal dignity in the eyes of the law. The Constitution grants them that right."
Friday's Supreme Court ruling now makes the US the 21st country in the world to legalise same-sex marriage across its territory. Following the latest development, couples of same gender would now be accorded every rights and privileges enjoyed by normal unions.
Reacting to the development, President Barack Obama congratulated the gay community in the US, saying the ruling had changed the country.
"I just wanted to say congratulations. Americans should be very proud, because small acts of courage slowly made an entire country realise that love is love. The situation has changed our country," he said.

Happy Valentine's Day everyone!

  Here's wishing wishing you love, pure & unconditional; peace with others and yourself; good health; mentally and physically; beauty, within yourself and in your surrounding; confidence, when things get tough, patience, with your own trials and with others; I wish you laughter anyway you can get them. I wish you strength and courage to sustain you. But most of all, I wish you a day of miracles and full of heavenly wonders. Cheerz!!!

Happy Valentine's Day to everyone out there! Plenty love and kisses!

From Ubaliveinfo

Mbaka vs.The Jonathans: N5 million in an offering bag?

By Josef Omorotionmwan

CLEARLY, the Mbaka episode is multi-dimensional and it is getting messier by the day. It has reached a point where President Goodluck Jonathan and his wife cannot remain mute for too long, lest they will continue to be misunderstood. The theatricals are still unfolding.
Act I: Scene I – Dame Patience Jonathan visits the Catholic Adoration Centre in Enugu, a church headed by Revd Father Ejike Mbaka. Madam is pleasantly received and Father Mbaka eulogises her husband to the high heavens. So impressed was Dame that she dropped N5 million in the offering bag. And this was marvelous in the sight of Mbaka.

Scene II: Madam returns to Abuja. Father Mbaka makes several unsuccessful attempts to see her.

Act II: Scene I – A short while later, Father Mbaka lampoons the Jonathan administration for abysmal performance. In a New Year message titled

“From Good luck to Bad luck”, Mbaka openly canvassed the rejection of President Jonathan at the 2015 presidential election, thus asking Nigerians to vote for a leader who can tackle the many challenges facing Nigeria. He lashed out at men of God who hobnob with the powers-that-be.

Mbaka went ruthlessly personal: “The Jonathan administration has failed… When Goodluck met Yar’Adua, he got bad luck and died. When Goodluck met our oil, it poured away and met bad luck. When Goodluck met our Naira, it met bad luck… Look at you brilliant youth, nobody has any plans for you… 2015 cannot be the same. We announce change… Boko Haram has virtually crippled the Northeastern part of the country…

Many are saying that it is Buhari that said he would make our country ungovernable. Even though Buhari never said such a thing, but if you are the President, will you not arrest such a person? Are you waiting for your own church to be bombed before you speak out? … If my father will be leader and my siblings will all die, let a stranger be my leader and let my family live….”

Questions: Where did things go wrong? When is a housewife who goes about throwing money around worth investigating? From the much we know, the office of First Lady is totally alien to our Constitution. Where did this housewife get all the money she is throwing around? When are we going to have an Internal/Inland Revenue Service that will be alive to its responsibilities? In the United States of America, for instance, if you are unable to account for your source wealth, Uncle Sam would pursue you far into the bottomless pit.

Which offering bag would contain N5 million, even in our highest denomination of N1000 notes? Is it possible, albeit most unlikely, that the
What would have transpired for the Reverend to exploded, and resolved to take his pound of flesh!

Rev-Father-Mbaka

Only a good investigation would unraveled the truth here but given the pluralistic nature of our society, even the investigators are, ab initio, handicapped: if they push too hard, they are seen as supporting the opposition; and if they do not push hard enough, they are seen as working for the “oga at the top”.

Meanwhile, Father Mbaka has come under severe criticism from many quarters. He is accused of washing the dirty linens in public. Our counsel is to prevent the linen from dirt for, once the linen gets dirty, it can be washed anywhere – even on the pulpit!

Again, the Mbaka sermon provides a most damning verdict on the Jonathan administration, particularly coming from the most unexpected quarters – the Southeast, where Jonathan’s second-term bid had become a foregone conclusion.

The Mbaka sermon has a lot of parallels in history. Right from biblical times, courage has been the stuff of which leaders are made. When Queen Esther saved an entire generation of people, asserting unequivocally, “If I perish I perish”, she demonstrated rare courage. When the Archbishop Olubunmi Okogie, as he then was, remained in the vanguard of critics of our military rulers, he demonstrated uncommon courage.

There is something that cannot be taken away from Father Mbaka – he has shown that the easiest way of perpetuating evil is for good men to do nothing. For too long, men of God have remained docile in the face of injustice in this country, oblivious of the fact that it is only when society is at peace that the church can be at peace. For instance, how many people can go to church in the troubled regions of the world?

There is no escaping the inevitable conclusion that the church in Nigeria today has become hopelessly compromised, commercialized and polarized.

But let no one be deceived into believing that religious leaders have no business in politics and governance. One major problem in this country has been the failure of the church to live up to expectation as the conscience of the people and the representatives of God on earth. We believe that many of the ills that have plagued this country would have been averted had our religious leaders been courageous enough to speak out as appropriate.

The situation here calls for a lot of restraint. Whatever the motivation mix and despite Mbaka’s apparent duplicity, there are aspects of his message that cannot be totally ignored. There comes a time when we must ignore the messenger and still accept his message.

- See more at: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2015/01/mbaka-vs-jonathans-n5-million-offering-bag/#sthash.hHPnr8WT.dpuf

PHOTO: Accident along Ilesha road yesterday claims lives

A fatal accident which claimed the lives of at least five people occurred yesterday Feb. 8th. A Toyota bus carrying some school children ‎overran a Sienna on the highway. No one survived the accident. If you look closely, you will see a woman trapped inside the bus. So sad! More pics bellow......





Culled from: lindaikeji"s blog

Astonishing! Dangote reduces cement price to N1,000

Dangote Cement Plc has announced a 41 per cent reduction in the prices of cement, with the different grades of the essential commodity now selling for between N1,000 and N1,150, exclusive of Value Added Tax.

In the new price regime announced on Sunday by the Group Managing Director, Dangote Cement, Mr. Devakumar Edwin, a 50kg bag of the 32.5 cement grade will now sell for N1,000, while the higher 42.5 grade is to sell for N1,150 per bag instead of the current N1,700 that both grades were going for.

Edwin said in a statement that the move was in line with the company’s commitment to the nation, especially the need for the development of infrastructure and boost ongoing efforts to reduce the near 20 million housing deficit in Africa’s largest economy.

“We recognise the need for a dramatic increase in the response to the huge infrastructure and housing deficit in the country, and one of the ways of addressing the issue is bringing the price of building materials down to much more affordable levels, especially cement, which is within our own control as part of our contribution to the transformation agenda of the President Goodluck Jonathan administration and the attainment of key milestones in the Millennium Development Goals,” he was quoted as saying.

Since the commencement of the implementation of the backward integration policy for cement in the country over 12 years ago, the local production capacity of the product had risen from less than two million metric tonnes per annum to about 38 million metric tonnes per annum currently.

During the period, over $20bn has been directly and indirectly injected into the Nigerian cement industry with Dangote Cement Plc accounting for 60 per cent of that expenditure.

Edwin also said that Dangote Cement would continue to ensure the alignment of its corporate social responsibility with its strategic business initiatives, and would continue to evaluate its pricing regime in the country’s best interest.

According to the statement, stakeholders have commended the price reduction and say the cement market is entering the high demand phase as the dry season, which provides the opportunity for increased construction and building activities, is setting in.

In compliance with the directive of the Standards Organisation of Nigeria on the various grades of cement and their prescribed uses, Dangote Cement recently inaugurated its brand of the premium 32.5 grade, which has been restricted to plastering use only.

The largest cement producer in Nigeria noted that the move was to develop a full bouquet of cement types to meet the varying needs of consumers for the different purposes.

The company produces the 42.5 grade for column casting, block making, decking and other general purpose construction works that require high strength, while the 32.5 grade is for rendering or plastering.

The company also produces on demand the 52.5 grade for specialised construction of high strength structures such as bridges, flyovers and sky scrapers, among others.

Dangote Cement said in compliance with the SON standard for cement quality and packaging, the lower 32.5 grade would be clearly labelled in order to minimise the incidence of building collapse arising from the misapplication of the different grades of cement.

Source : Punchng.com