Popular Nollywood Superstar Omotola Ekeinde-Jalade was recently a guest at the TIME 100 Gala which was held yesterday in New York, USA.
Omotola wore a lovely red dress by Iconic Invanity.
Also fellow Nigerians who were also named in the 100 Most Influential in the world, Aliko Dangote and Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala also attended the Gala.
Singer Sound Sultan (real name Olanrewaju Fasasi) stated that he didn’t force his wife, Chichi Morah, to convert to Islam from Christianity.
Clearing the air, Sound Sultan assured that his wife embraced Islam neither because of him, nor because of their marriage. She did it willingly because she was in love with the religion.
The exact words of Sound Sultan: “No one force anyone to do a religion. It’s just happen that she married me and she really…really was in love with the religion herself.”
After Sound Sultan and Chichi Morah got married in 2009, Morah who earlier was a Christian and Igbo embraced the teachings of Islam and adopted an Islam name, Farida.
Popular Nigerian singer and his wife welcomed their third child March 4, 2014.
Davido brought in his friends from South Africa to join him at the video launch of single “Tchelete”.
The sensational duo Mafikizolo which includes members Nhlanhla Nciza and Theo Kgosinkwe flew in to Lagos and are today having a media tour before the launch is scheduled to hold.
The duo Mafikizolo genre of music is called Kwaito, Kwaito is based mostly on African beats and dance.
Amaka Igwe, one of Nigeria’s foremost film producers, writer, director and a leading player in the motion picture industry, is dead.
This is contained in a statement issued on Tuesday in Lagos by The Nigerian Entertainment (NET).
The statement said that Amaka died on Monday night in Enugu after a brief ill health.
Confirming the death to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Tuesday in Abuja, Mr Agility Onwurah, Chairman, Actors Guild of Nigeria (AGN), Abuja Chapter, said Amaka’s demise was a big blow to the Nollywood industry.
“Amaka had gone to Enugu in company of her husband for a pre-production preparation for a new Igbo soap when the sad incident occurred.
“She suffered asthmatic attack and was immediately rushed to a hospital, but died before getting there.
“Amaka is survived by her husband of 21 years, Charles Igwe, three children, and an aged mother, “the statement said.
Born Amaka Isaac-Ene, the deceased was an accomplished writer, producer, director, entrepreneur and teacher.
She founded the BoB TV Expo, and was the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Top Radio 90.9 FM, Amaka Igwe Studios, and the newly-launched Q Entertainment Networks.
The statement described Amaka as a visionary, and pioneer of modern Nigerian TV drama and film.
Amaka hit national limelight as the writer and producer of the award-winning TV soap, “Checkmate’’, and “Fuji House of Commotion’’.
“Her Nollywood projects include `RattleSnake’ and `Violated’, two critically-acclaimed movies that set apart Amaka Igwe Studios in the much-criticised Nollywood industry.
Onwurah described Amaka as one of the foremost producers in the industry and an encouragement to the entertainment industry in the country.
He said her contribution to AGN would be missed, stating that she did her best to ensure that the Guild was a force to reckon with in the entertainment industry in the world. (NAN)
LAGOS — ACCLAIMED movie producer and director, Mrs Amaka Igwe, is dead. She died in her country home, Udi, Enugu State, at 51.
The creator of the popular TV series “Checkmate” and “Fuji House of Commotion,” reportedly died of an asthma attack Monday night.
She was in Enugu where she had gone, in company of her husband, Charles, for pre-production preparations for a new Igbo soap. She was said to have finished a film lecture in her home town, Udi.
A film producer who works in her studio located at Marwa Gardens, Mr Chris Ihidero, confirmed the sad news to Vanguard yesterday.
According to him, the acclaimed producer, writer and director suffered an asthma attack and was immediately rushed to a nearby hospital after initial interventions had failed. She passed on before getting to the hospital.
Ihidero said before her death, Amaka Igwe was teaching some film makers the art of film making in her home town, Udi, Enugu State.
He described the late founder and CEO of Top Radio 90.9FM as a lover of “sharing knowledge” and “Duchess of Nollywood.”
“Amaka Igwe was one woman who would not hesitate to share knowledge. Her dream was to bring up enough producers, directors and script writers who would take over from her generation when they are no more,” Ihidero added.
Meanwhile, when Vanguard called at her studio at Marwa Gardens, yesterday, the atmosphere was one of grief, calm and solemnity.
Some of her staff were dumbfounded, even as they refused to come to terms with the sad news. Surprisingly, on the first floor of the one-storey building, the cast of a new TV series by the late producer which ends today was on set.
One of them who spoke with Vanguard said the deceased would not be happy with them wherever she was if they had to halt the production because of her demise.
Mrs. Igwe is survived by her husband of 21 years, Charles, three children, an aged mother, siblings and a large extended family.
Nollywood mourns
Since the news broke yesterday morning, her colleagues, friends and well-wishers have continued to pour out their hearts on the exemplary leadership and uncommon talent of the woman who not only discovered many great talents but also fostered and inspired many more.
One of her colleagues, Don Pedro Obaseki, Enogie-Isi of Benin Kingdom, could not hide his sorrow as he declared: “We won’t miss you because everywhere we turn in Nollywood we see you! We feel you, Amaka! I remain your friend, even in the afterlife! Your body of work will be an inspiration to many generations.”
Comedian Julius Agwu, whose life was also touched by the famed Amaka, had this to say: “Death visits the wrong home at the wrong time and snatches the wrong person. She gave me my first movie role in Nollywood as Peter, Jnr. in her blockbuster Rattlesnake. May Almighty God grant her family the fortitude to bear the irreplaceable loss. Rest in Peace,
Aunty Amaka.
Top Nollywood actress, Genevieve Nnaji, expressed her grief thus: “This is the darkest day of my entire career. That I believe sums up how I feel right now. Your legacy will live on, Aunty Amaka, I promise you.”
For Kate Henshaw, “a great woman who dared where men tread has passed on! RIP, Aunty Amaka. Our prayers are with you, Uncle Charles.”
According to Stephanie Linus, “I am still in shock. Oh! How we have lost a great one. Rest in Peace, Amaka Igwe.”
Stella Damasus said: “She has gone home. God rest her soul. For the rest of us here, I wonder what the future holds or how long we have. I would rather spend each day working towards my salvation. Death does not have a clock.RIP Aunty Amaka. My prayer goes out to Uncle Charles and the children.“
Alex Eyengho, President, Association of Nollywood Core Producers, ANCOP, wondered why Amaka Igwe should bow to death now.
Substantial part of Nollywood is dead
“A substantial part of Nollywood and the African motion picture industry is dead with her sudden demise. She was indeed the Duchess of Nollywood. She never did any business outside Nollywood and the Nigerian entertainment industry generally. She gave the indsutry her all,” Eyengho said
However, actor John Njamah, remembered in the sitcom “Fuji House of Commotion” as the notorious Gbenro was discovered by the deceased and John could not hide his feeling.
“Words are not enough to say goodbye to this awesome woman that carved my yesterday and defined my today as a film-maker. Farewell, Mrs Igwe,” he said.
Belinda Effah, a fast-rising Nollywood actress, gave a stirring account of her meeting with the great lady and expressed her emotion: “A lady with a great personality. Her name resonated in the industry such that those that spoke about her revered her. My first encounter was not short-lived at all. I relive the moment all the time because she was able to impact upon me and challenged me not to restrict my acting locally but aim for the sky and become an internationally acclaimed actor.
Another fast-rising actor, Ken Eric, eulogised her in few, yet touching words: “Shocking. She really was a pace setter. A director par excellence. Words cannot explain everything she stood for. She would be greatly missed. But her towering legacy lives on. Adieu, Amaka Igwe.”
…AfricaMagic too
Also paying tribute to the prolific film maker was the AfricaMagic family. It said: “We are deeply saddened to hear of the passing of iconic Nigerian film and TV producer, Mrs. Amaka Igwe.
“The African creative arts industry has lost an admired and respected leader whose vast knowledge, proven business acumen and boundless imagination made an immeasurable contribution to the development and success of our community.
“AfricaMagic extends its sincere condolences to her husband, her children, her family and friends during this difficult time, and will honour Mrs. Igwe’s memory by screening a collection of her most beloved works in the days and weeks ahead.”
M-Net West Africa Regional Director, Wangi Mba-Uzoukwu confirmed the special tribute, saying: ‘Amaka Igwe was a giant in our world, a loyal supporter, a committed professional and a valued partner.”
AMAA boss mourns
In her tribute, the CEO of Africa Film Academy Award, AMAA, Ms Peace Anyiam-Osigwe, said: “I received with sadness this morning the news of the passing away of my big sister and Nollywood icon, Mrs. Amaka Igwe.
“The motion picture industry in Nigeria and Africa will sorely miss this revolutionary who raised the bar of professionalism and artistic excellence early in Nollywood when it was not fashionable.”
Atiku mourns
Former Vice President and chieftain of All Progressives Congress, APC, Atiku Abubakar, yesterday described Amaka Igwe as “a jewel of the Nollywood industry.”
In a statement by his media office in Abuja, Atiku expressed shock at the demise of Mrs. Igwe, who was a major player in the Nigerian movie industry.
Atiku recalled that Mrs. Igwe’s first major production, “Decrees of Fate” won four awards at the National Festival of Television Programmes in 1988.
“Amaka (Igwe) was one of the pioneers of the movie industry. Her presence in Nollywood grew to become quite impressive as she amassed a number of well received movies,” Atiku said.
He said the versatile artiste organized the annual BOB TV film festival and was noted for productions, which included “Rattlesnake” and “Violated” that dwelt heavily on contemporary family issues.
The Turaki Adamawa expressed his condolences to the Igwe and Ene families and friends and associates of the deceased, in particular members of Nollywood.
Life and times of Amaka Igwe
Born Amaka Isaac-Ene, the deceased was an accomplished writer, producer, director, entrepreneur and teacher. She is the founder of BoBTV Expo, founder and CEO of Top Radio 90.9FM, Amaka Igwe Studios, and the newly-launched Q Entertainment Networks.
A visionary and pioneer of modern Nigerian TV drama and film, she hit national limelight as the writer and producer of award-winning TV soap ‘Checkmate’ and its off shoot ‘Fuji
House of Commotion’.
Her Nollywood projects include RattleSnake and Violated, two critically-acclaimed movies that set apart Amaka Igwe Studios in the much-criticised Nollywood industry.
Amaka Igwe studied Education/Religion at the University of Ife (now Obafemi Awolowo University). She had a Master’s degree from the University of Ibadan. She had her early education at All Saints School (now Trans Ekulu Primary School), Girls High School Awkunanaw, Enugu and Idia College, Benin, where she did her A levels.
She worked as a lecturer at Anambra State University of Technology and briefly in the oil and gas sector before settling for the motion picture industry. She is arguably the most important woman in the creation and evolution of the movie industry, called Nollywood and was born and bred in Enugu.
Music superstar, Ayodeji Ibrahim Balogun popularly known as Wizkid has made his parents so proud of him that his mom gushes about him.
Wizkid’s mother, Jane Dolapo Balogun who has such lovely words to say about her son said:
“I’m so glad that he is my son, and that I’m his mother. I give God all the glory. God has kept him for us and He will continue to.”
Meanwhile the feeling is also mutual as Wizkid shared a photo of his parents and showered praises and expressed his love for them saying:
Everything I am today I owe it to them! They gave me everything they had even when they had nothing! I can’t put words together to express how much I love you mom and dad. I’ll always make you proud.
The Psquare breakup has finally been resolved but it would take a while for many of their fans to forget in a hurry.
While the brothers did not particularly state the reason for the breakup, different claims emerged over the past weeks.
The Okoye brothers who finally reconciled and settled their difference, posted different messages on twitter on April 25, 2014 letting their fans know that all is now well and even apologizing recently stepped out together, since the news went viral.
Meanwhile when the report initially broke out, with Psquare’s elder brother/manager, Jude Okoye tweeting on April 18, 2014 “After over 10 years of hard work, it’s over, I’m done”, the Public Relations Executive to P-Square, Bayo Adetu when contacted to confirm the report denied saying.
“I am too busy to give some wanna be blogger traffic, I don’t know where that report is coming from. Maybe they just want to get traffic to their site. It’s baseless and untrue”.
Bayo who is still insisting that there was never a fight while speaking in a recent interview with ICON Weekly said:
“There was no fight at all. The whole thing started after Jude tweeted some days back and bloggers feasted on it and gave it several interpretations which never existed, and that was how we got here”.
On the comments made by the brothers on social media about their breakup he said: “I can authoritatively tell you that neither of the P-Square brothers, nor even Jude operate their Facebook accounts anymore. Whatever Facebook posted was from an impersonator, pretending to be anyone of them. P-Square is active on twitter, not on Facebook, so you see, the whole thing was founded on lies.
On why they allowed the report go viral: “In this game, bad publicity is good publicity. When we read those funny posts, we decided to play along with the general public and what they were meant to believe.
Few days after rumours of their impending split was put to rest, a member of the musical group P-Square, Peter Okoye, has revealed his latest acquisition of exotic cars.
An elated Peter shared a photo of the 2014 Bentley GT he just acquired on his twitter handle some minutes ago.
Below is how he made the announcement:
According to reports, the new car is said to worth over N30million.
Below are photos of the new car:
Former Nigeria international, Sunday Oliseh has predicted that an African country will eventually win the FIFA World Cup if the right things like preparation and execution of plans are right.
Speaking on Cable News Network (CNN’s) Human to Hero series, the 39-year-old ex midfielder, said that poor and late preparations for the football showpiece has always been problems for teams from the continent.
“I think an African country will eventually win the World Cup. What is lacking now, it’s simple to say … what is wrong is that we don’t plan well. We leave the planning ’until it is late,” Oliseh said.
Oliseh insisted that for his prediction to come true, “Africans need to learn how to start pressurizing the opponents. Football has changed now. It’s no longer football where you pick individuals and expect them to do well.
“Now it’s more about team work, team dynamics, team schemes, things that are planned out like how to look at the opponent, how to bring about antidotes to the opponent’s playing star.
“When it comes to physical strength and bursts of speed, you can’t beat an African. But what is lacking now is just that technical and tactical know-how. Then we’ll get it,” observed the former Cologne and Borussia Dortmund player.
Oliseh who is a member of FIFA’s Study Group, believes that the Nigerian senior national team, the Super Eagles will do well at Brazil 2014 although would not be drawn into predicting if the team led by former teammate, Stephen Keshi, will win the cup.
He admitted that his 1994 Super Eagles generation was blessed with so many individually talented stars.
Oliseh’s World Cup days may be long past after retiring from the game in 2006, but come June and July he will be watching events in Brazil with avid interest.
“If I was to live without football now, I think I would die — even my kids sometimes are bored because Papa is always watching games,” joked the former Super Eagles star whose goal against Spain earned Nigeria first victory at France ’98.
Liverpool striker Luis Suarez won England’s Professional Footballers’ Association’s Player of the Year award on Sunday.
This time last year the Uruguay international was starting a 10-match ban for biting Chelsea’s Branislav Ivanovic.
But now Suarez has been chosen by his fellow top-flight professionals in England as the outstanding player in the Premier League after spearheading Liverpool’s title bid.
Suarez received the award during a ceremony at London’s Grosvenor House hotel after flying down from Liverpool following a 2-0 defeat by Chelsea at Anfield that dented the Merseysiders’ challenge for a first English title in the Premier League era.
The 27-year-old Suarez has scored 30 league goals in 31 appearances, despite his ban for biting Ivanovic carrying over into the start of this season.
“The Premier League is full of really great players and so it is a great honour when these players recognise your work on the pitch,” said Suarez, who threatened to leave Liverpool at one stage after claiming Reds manager Brendan Rodgers had gone back on a deal to let him move to a Champions League club.
However, Suarez added Sunday: “I always try my best for the team and it is nice to get awards but really this is for my team-mates and the staff at Liverpool because without their help I wouldn’t have this prize.”
Chelsea’s Eden Hazard, who didn’t play at Anfield due to injury, was named the PFA Young Player of the Year.
Suarez and Liverpool strike partner Daniel Sturridge were both included in the PFA Premier League team of the year, also chosen by their fellow top-flight professionals in England.
The duo were joined by Liverpool and England captain Steven Gerrard in the XI.
Chelsea also had three players in the PFA side in goalkeeper Petr Cech, defender Gary Cahill and Hazard.
Title-chasers Manchester City were represented by Vincent Kompany and Yaya Toure while the Southampton duo of Luke Shaw and Adam Lallana were also included, with Everton right-back Seamus Coleman in the XI.
However, no players from soon to be dethroned champions Manchester United or Arsenal were in the select side.
PFA Premier League team of the year: Petr Cech (Chelsea); Luke Shaw (Southampton), Vincent Kompany (Manchester City), Gary Cahill (Chelsea), Seamus Coleman (Everton); Eden Hazard (Chelsea), Yaya Toure (Manchester City), Steven Gerrard (Liverpool), Adam Lallana (Southampton); Luis Suarez (Liverpool), Daniel Sturridge (Liverpool)
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