METUH MACDONALD BLOG (MMB)

The Nigerian presidency says there’s nothing “scandalous or extraordinary” about the inclusion of the names of dead persons in a list of board and parastatal appointments. On Friday, December 29, 2017 the Muhammadu Buhari presidency announced the appointment of 209 board chairmen and 1,258 board members into a slew of agencies. Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Boss Mustapha, made the list public. The names of persons who have since passed on, popped up on the list, to the dismay and outrage of millions of Nigerians. However, the presidency says Nigerians should cut it some slack because the list was compiled in 2015 and revised in 2016. 'Historical list' According to presidency spokesperson Garba Shehu;“This list is a historical list. It dates back to 2015. The President asked all state chapters of the APC to forward 50 names for appointments to the SGF through the national headquarters of the party. “The then SGF, Babachir Lawal, presented ...

Venezuela's fractured opposition said Friday it planned to drop competing agendas to unify behind a single candidate in the 2018 presidential elections in which leader Nicolas Maduro is seeking a new mandate. "We promise to boost our unity... and will proceed with selecting a single candidate," the main grouping, the Democratic Unity Roundtable (MUD) coalition, said in a statement. The coalition did not specify how it would choose its rival to Maduro. But on December 12, opposition lawmaker Luis Florido suggested consultations between the parties on holding primaries. The division in the opposition coalition have given Maduro a clear path to holding on to power, despite broad unpopularity and deep societal malaise over scarce food and medicine as the once-rich oil-producing nation teeters on the brink of default. By sidelining the opposition, Maduro has seen his loyalists win gubernatorial and municipal elections in October and December. The cracks in the o...

The militants of the Islamic State, ISIS, has begun a major offensive to take back loss ground in Iraq, reports have said. According to the reports, ISIS fighters have seized a number of settlements in the cities of Kirkuk and Havidzh, and have continued to attack the positions of the Kurdish Peshmerga in Kirkuk and Tuz Khurmatu. There has also been reports of ISIS attack on the city of Samarra. About 70 Iraqis have been killed since the current ISIS offensive began.

Following his highly successful #30Billion concert, Singer Davido has taken to social media to reveal that Psquare would have performed at his show. Davido disclosed on Snapchat why Psquare did not perform together even though the Okoye brothers, Peter and Paul had agreed to perform just like the Mo-Hits crew. Davido who aknowledged ,Peter Okoye attended the show,said Paul had a show booked in Calabar and couldn’t make it to Lagos . He said; “Let us preach unity, Psquare were ready to perform but one of them Paul was not present but Peter Okoye was at the show. “He already had a show which made it impossible for them to perform alongside Mo’hits crew. “Both guys are lovely guys trust me there is no problem.”

President Muhammadu Buhari on Friday appointed 209 board chairmen and 1,258 members of government owned agencies and parastatals. More appointments are on the way, said Mr. Boss Mustapha, secretary to the Government of the Federation, who announced the latest massive batch of appointees. At the APC NEC meeting, President Buhari also hinted he would expand his cabinet by appointing more ministers. The latest appointments, the largest President Buhari ever made since 2015, saw Mallam Wada Maida, a former editor-in-chief and managing director of The News Agency of Nigeria, returning as its chairman. Appointed as one of the board members is Mr. Isa Abba Adamu. Maida, a former press secretary to Buhari when he was Nigeria’s military ruler between 1984 and 1985, is at present the Chairman board of directors of Peoples Media Limited. He retired from the agency in 2003. He was the agency’s managing director from 1994, after a long spell as editor-in-chief, from 1985. He joined NAN...

Multiple clubs are reported to be interested in the French forward but Atletico's CEO has promised to work to keep him from leaving Manchester United and Barcelona have been warned they could need to splash up to €200 million to buy Antoine Griezmann this summer. Atletico reported Barcelona to FIFA last week over their alleged transfer pursuit of the France star after Camp Nou director Guillermo Amor said it was possible Barca president Josep Maria Bartomeu "had a meeting with Griezmann's family". The 26-year-old forward was heavily linked with a move to Manchester United before the start of this season but opted to stay with Atletico. Head coach Diego Simeone recently stoked speculation by saying he would not stand in Griezmann's way should he desire a new challenge, but Atletico chief executive Miguel Angel Gil Marin has sounded a more combative tone. "Atletico doesn't want to sell Griezmann either now or in the summer," he told Meg...

US President Donald Trump speaks alongside US Vice President Mike Pence (L) about the recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel by the United States in the Diplomatic Reception Room at the White House in Washington, DC, December 6, 2017. President Donald Trump on Wednesday recognized the disputed city of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital — a historic decision that overturns decades of US policy and risks triggering a fresh spasm of violence in the Middle East.SAUL LOEB / AFP “Then, when the second promise came to pass, (We permitted your enemies) to make your faces sorrowful and to enter the mosque (of Jerusalem) as they had entered it before, and to destroy with utter destruction all that fell in their hands” (Quran 17: 7) During the past week, I have received several messages which were written in response to the sermon of last week which centred around the inglorious recognition, by Mr Trump, of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. As is customary in situations like that...

Saif al-Islam Gadaffi, son of former Libyan leader, Muammar Gadaffi family will contest in the country’s upcoming presidential elections. A spokesperson of the Gadaffi family, Basem al-Hashimi al-Soul told influential local media agency, Egypt Today, that Saif al-Islam has the support and credentials required to end the chaos that has gripped Libya since the overthrow of his father Muammar Gadaffi in 2011. “Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, the son of the former Libyan president, enjoys the support of major tribes in Libya so he can run for the upcoming presidential elections due in 2018,” said Libyan Tribal Chief and spokesperson of the Gaddafi family, Basem al-Hashimi al-Soul. Al-Soul says that a platform to launch the former first son’s presidential campaign will soon be launched. “The platform includes some procedures that Saif al-Islam hopes the United Nations would adopt to help Libya move from the incumbent transitional period to stability.” Saif al-Islam Gadaffi hopes to uni...

The United States has officially agreed to sell 12 Super Tucano A-29 planes and weapons to Nigeria after confirming the resurrection of a deal frozen by the Obama administration over rights concerns. Back then, former U.S. President Barack Obama delayed the sale in one of his last decisions in office after the Nigerian Air Force bombed a refugee camp in January. But his successor Donald Trump decided to press on with the transaction to support Nigeria’s efforts to fight Boko Haram militants and to boost U.S. defence jobs, sources told Reuters in April. The U.S. ambassador to Nigeria presented letters of offer and acceptance to Nigeria’s air force earlier on Wednesday, December 27, the air force said in a statement. It said the U.S. State Department had approved the sale and final agreements would be signed and necessary payments made before Feb. 20. There was no immediate statement from the U.S. embassy or from authorities in Washington. U.S. government and Nigerian Air For...

CRISTIANO RONALDO allegedly told his Real Madrid team-mates he was going to return his latest Ballon d'Or after the El Clasico defeat, according to astonishing claims in the Spanish press. The Portuguese superstar, 32, is not known for his humility but is reported to have admitted he did not deserve a fifth trophy. Cristiano Ronaldo had Real madrid were hammered 3-0 at home by rivals Barcelona Spanish outlet Mundo Deportivo is claiming Ronaldo has already told the director of France Football to giver the award to Lionel Messi. He is reported to have said: "I rushed saying that I am the best in history, the whole planet has witnessed once again that the best is Messi. "The most just thing is that I return the ball, I do not deserve it," The report adds that Ronaldo's team-mates, friends and family urged him to change his mind but it was too late. Cristiano Ronaldo allegedly told his pals Lionel Messi deserves the award more Real Madrid ha...

The absence of a bridge yesterday forced the Sokoto state governor, Aminu Tambuwal's convoy to be ferried across River Benue. Governor Tambuwal was heading to Ibi LGA of Taraba State to pay a visit to the former Chief Whip of the House of Representatives, Hon Isiaka Bawa, who recently lost his mother.

A man Chuks Samson from Ogidi Town in Anambra State was seen roaming the streets of Lagos after arriving Nigeria since 5th of December 2017 aboard Emirates Airline from London. According to a witness, Anselm Ojietu, who met him and interviewed him, the man’s mental health deteriorated badly as he temporarily went insane – walking around with his bags after arriving the country for Christmas.Now, efforts are being made to locate his people. See More photos below;

Days after Cardi B's fiance, Offset was exposed for cheating with an unknown woman after his phone was hacked with the hacker releasing some unscrupulous clips, there's a new hint that the rapper is still sleeping with one of his babymamas. The Fameolous Blog posted some text messages from the person who obtained the Offset cheating video, and they claim that it was one of Offset’s Babymamas who leaked the video. Going through the leaked text messages, it appears that Offset is still sleeping with one of the mothers of his children, despite being engaged to Cardi B. The rapper has two children with Shya L'amour and Marie Oriel Jamie. Here is the leaked text messages below..

Yemenis inspect damage at the site of a reported Saudi-led coalition air strike, in the northwestern Huthi-held city of Saada. Sixty-eight Yemeni civilians were killed in two separate air raids by the Saudi-led Arab coalition in one day, the UN humanitarian Coordinator in Yemen Jamie McGoldrick said on Thursday. The first air strike on Tuesday hit a “crowded popular market” in Taez province, killing 54 civilians including eight children and wounding 32 others, the UN official said in a statement. The second raid was in the Red Sea province of Hodeida and killed 14 people from the same family, the statement said.

The President and founder of the Excellent Christian Ministry Int’l Inc, Apostle Dr. Ogochukwu T. Amaukwu has released his 2018 prophecies for Nigeria. In the prophecies he divided into three: individual; National; and the world and shared on social media, he stated that the untouchable in the country shall be touched. In the prophecies he numbered from 13 to 45 as national, the cleric predicted that President Muhammadu Buhari may return to sick bed. He also said the threat to divide the country will continue and become more aggressive. He wrote: National 13. The untouchables shall be touched. 14. The govt will deliberately fight the church with terrible policies and actions 15. Secession threats will reduce abit but will pick up aggressively by the middle of the year. 16. Fresh economic reforms ongoing to stabilize the economy and naira 17. Dwidling economy. Things will pick up abit and drop 18. The president’s health still not okay, he needs mo...

Former Manchester United striker, Dwight Yorke, has revealed that former manager of the club, Sir Alex Ferguson, cannot see Jose Mourinho changing his style of play. Yorke was speaking to Ferguson about the perception that Mourinho’s style is overly cautious and negative. According to Yorke, who was speaking in his role as a pundit for beIN Sports, Ferguson thinks Mourinho will remain set in his tried and tested ways. “He’s done that type of stuff as a manager throughout his career. “He’s been very successful doing it this way. I had this conversation with Sir Alex last week, and he can’t see him changing because if you’re successful this way, why would you want to change?” Yorke said. United have dropped points in their last two games with frustrating draws against Leicester and Burnley.

 Ex-Boxer Beats Wife to Death Over Christmas Food in Anambra A manhunt for a retired boxer, identified only as Everitus who allegedly beat his wife, Fidelia, to death has been launched by the police in Anambra state. According to a report by Punch, the ex-boxer attacked the wife during a disagreement at their home in Uli, in the Ihiala Local Government Area of Anambra State. She was said to have asked him to provide for money for Christmas food. It was gathered that the angry husband had engaged the wife in an argument over the matter before beating her to a pulp. She died in the process. Immediately the woman gave up the ghost, the ex-boxer fled the community.

Former president of Nigeria, Goodluck Jonathan has reacted to the bike accident invloving President Muhammadu Buhari’s son, Yusuf. Jonathan describing Yusuf as a man full of life, called for his speedy recovery. Yusuf Buhari suffered brain injury after he was involved in a bike accident on Tuesday night. The former president urged Nigerians to set aside their differences this period and pray for Buhari’s family. “I have been in Liberia monitoring elections and only just heard the sad news. “My family and I are in prayers for the quick recovery of Yusuf Buhari. It is my deep desire that a young man so full of promise should live and thrive to fulfill the promises God has domiciled in him. “I also call on all Nigerians to put aside any divisions and show unconditional love to the first family at this time. GEJ.” Jonathan tweeted.

Donald Duke and Onari on arrival It was a show of amusement and opulence on Wednesday at the third edition of the Calabar Bikers Parade in Cross River State as a former governor of the state, Donald Duke and his wife, Onari, emerged in a monster power bike. Attendees, passerby and participants were thrilled as the couple stole the show. The bike awed the crowd, who continuously chanted ‘Donald! Donald!!’ as he drove through the carnival route with his wife. The bikers carnival, introduced in 2015 by Ben Ayade, Cross River governor, is aimed at adding to the rich content of the Calabar carnival.

Davido earlier announced that he’d be offering a surprise at his concert, and indeed, it was a loud one, as the DMW Boss reunited Mo’Hits crew – one of Nigeria’s most favourite band at his 30 Billion Concert. The Mo’Hits crew comprising of Don Jazzy; the Entertainer, D’Banj; vocal powerhouse, Wande Coal; as well as Dr Sid, K-Switch, Ikechukwu and D’Prince had gone on a very painful split in 2012 over several internal disagreements. This is the first time the Mo’Hits crew is reuniting since their split five years ago. According to Davido, it took him two whole months of effort to bring this moment into fruition.

So an overly joyous lady took an audience aback following the action she took after her favourite singer, Wizkid touched her hands some days ago. According to a Lady, Annie who was gisting her friend, Ola about what went down at Wizkid concert, she claims, the singer passed by a group of people – presumably while performing – and in salutation of his adorned fans, made physical contact with  them. This caused one of the ladies who was touched to extend the feel down to her private parts and the teller of the story was so shook that even sleep couldn’t take the thought off her mind. Read below: -YBL

A photo that’s been trending online for hours now, shows visibly grown men on their kneels in salutation of their Pastor as he steps out of his car upon his arrival at his Church. The men in suits are seen kneeling down as they welcome their pastor who is the founder of Firehouse Assembly in Abuja – the photo has of course, caused mixed reactions online as many are contemplating whether or not the said gentlemen were actually welcoming their pastor or it’s otherwise. See the full photo below:

Do you use WhatsApp on your phone? Then, this message is urgently for you. WhatsApp will stop working on a selection of smartphones and mobile platforms from 1st January 2018. The phones to be affected are: any handsets running Windows Phone 8.0 (or older versions of the operating system), BlackBerry OS or BlackBerry 10.  The company made the announcement in an update to a blog post that was originally published in February 2016. “When we started WhatsApp in 2009, people’s use of mobile devices looked very different from today. The Apple App Store was only a few months old. About 70 percent of smartphones sold at the time had operating systems offered by BlackBerry and Nokia,” it reads.  “Mobile operating systems offered by Google, Apple and Microsoft – which account for 99.5 percent of sales today – were on less than 25 percent of mobile devices sold at the time.” The platforms that are being cut are unpopular, and have been for some time. The company ended su...

Rivers State and the current Minister of Transport Rotimi Chibuike Amaechi says he has no personal problems with Governor Nyesom Wike. He said his problem is the “maladministration, incompetence and lack of vision” on the part of the governor. Amaechi said this in a series of tweets during interaction with Nigerians and especially those from Rivers state on Christmas Day. Asked whether he will be going back to the PDP, the minister simply answered, “No”. Another user asked what he was doing about a rumour that Governor Wike ensured the emergence of Uche Secondus as PDP Chairman so that he (Wike) could monitor Amaechi. The twitter user @asktja quipped: “Sir I hear Secondus is from your place hence Wike picked him to check mate your rising popularity and keep him in office.” But the minister said: “Lol! Can anyone stop the sun from shining? Anyway, I dey kampe.”​ Sopirinye Jaja with handle @Sopirinye, asked: “Any plans for Federal government to consider taking over Riv...

Mum of four, Oyinkansola O., took to her IG page to share her testimony of how she gave birth to her four cute sons despite being told she didn't have enough eggs. Posting this adorable family photo on her page, Oyinkansola wrote ''So many blessings are mine, not so much coz I deserve them or did anything special. My God out of his infinite mercy has just been great to me. He has blessed me beyond believe and measure. I remember being told I didn’t have enough eggs, but my God of more than enough blessed me with double. He blessed me with twins unexpectedly and unplanned for. I remember hearing “you are pregnant again?” “Why” “when will you finish school?” “When will you marry?” But when Baba God is involved, he aligns everything. Your mistakes fall into pleasant places. He gives you beauty for ashes, He turns your sorrow into joy. This is my story, this is my song, this is my joy, this is my family!!! From my family to yours merry Christmas and a happy new year....

Former Chelsea star George Oppong Weah has made history after emerging victorious in the presidential election in Liberia to become the first former footballer to become the president of a country in Africa. Weah shot himself in the lead, trouncing his opponent with a landslide victory in Tuesday's second round of voting. Despite the world waitring for the official announcement to be made by the Electoral Commissioner of Liberia, the former World Footballer of the Year swept 13 out of the 15 counties with his 73-year-old opponent Joseph Boakai getting only two counties. Weah markedly improved on his showing from the first round of the election where he won 11 out of the 15 counties, sweeping to the emphatic victory to become the new President. Boakai could only win his home country of Lofa and Gbarpolu. The former iconic footballer becomes the first famous player in the world to clinch the high office of a country after retiring from the game. The de...