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I don’t have a releationship with the late doctor’s family – Ibinabo on her journey to prison

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Ibinabo-Fiberesima
The embattled actress granted her first interview since her bail appeal was turned down, she opened up on the accident which killed a doctor .Here is a report by Vanguard
“Since the incident happened, I have learnt how not to trust anybody any more. I put my trust now in the Lord. And this is better explained in the new song I recorded. The music captures my story. Emotionally, I have been drained and to some extent humiliated, even in public…I wasn’t happy that I was involved in that accident. I have said it over and over again that I’m deeply sorry that it ever happened. I don’t know how else to atone for the accident. I started begging my victim’s family from the very day the accident happened. My family attended the funeral rites and service of songs and I even attended the 40 days prayer when I was strong enough to move about. I met with the mother and the wife of the deceased. There’s virtually nothing I didn’t do to plead with the family of the deceased to let me off the hook. I’m still pleading with them as I speak with you right now.”
With this heart-rending statement Ibinabo Fiberesima broke down in tears after she was released from Kirikiri prison in 2009. It was same again Friday last week, as the appellate court dismissed her appeal and affirmed the High Court’s judgement, which sentenced her to five years imprisonment for manslaughter.
*Ibinabo She was convicted following the death of a Lagos-based medical doctor, Dr Giwa Suraj, whom she killed in an auto accident along Lekki–Epe expressway, Lagos. However, seven years after she had that horrible experience, the ex-beauty queen and incumbent president of the Actors Guild of Nigeria,AGN, is back to face the music. When the news of her conviction went viral on the internet, even her enemies wept for her.
But despite the odds, the good thing is that Ibinabo has come to accept her fate, even as she said, she’s always praying for the family of her accident victim, Dr. Giwa Suraj. Apparently, since the judgement was delivered, it has been greeted with an outpouring of emotion, pain and regrets on the part of Ibinabo’s colleagues.
While at the Kirikiri prison, emotion pervaded the vicinity as the movie stars took turns to see the actress seated in a small waiting room. Looking depressed and in low spirit, once cheerful Ibinabo expressed faith in God that the days of storms would soon be over. Her look confirmed one thing and that’s there is nothing that rends the heart, that ruins a life so quickly as being shut out of the world.
But while she was trying to hide her emotion, other female inmates were busy having fun, as they kept shouting and waving at some of the popular Nollywood faces who were at the prison. Ibinabo’s lawyer was among the early birds at the prison. He disclosed that he would be heading to the Supreme court, on Monday, to apply for stay of execution of the jail sentence
 My relationship with my accident victim’s family
Meanwhile, a week before she was convicted, the actress painted a clear picture of the kind of relationship that was existing between the family of the deceased and herself. Speaking with Showtime Celebrity, Ibinabo revealed that the late Dr. Suraj’s family banned her from coming to visit them. According to her,
“I don’t have a relationship with the family. They banned me from coming to see them. I used to visit the mother, but they warned me to stop coming to their house. So, I can only pray for them and that’s what I did always.” Asked if she has ever tried to send the family goodwill messages, the actress replied, “If I had their GSM lines, I would have sent them messages. But like I said earlier, I was banned from visiting them. They said I should not dare get close to them.”

 

 Also recounting what led to her present predicament, Ibinabo revealed that part of the condition for granting her bail in 2009, was that she should appeal the decision of the High Court, which sentenced her to five years in imprisonment.
When I was granted bail, the condition for granting the bail was that I should challenge the jail term slammed on me by the High Court, and urge the court to restore the decision of the Magistrate Court which fined N100,000 and I paid. And the appeal was only heard in January, that’s all. The case was between Lagos State government and I,” Ibinabo recounted.
 Second journey to Kirikiri prison 
Surprisingly, the appellate court, Friday last week dismissed her appeal as it affirmed the High Court’s judgement. Devastated by this development, the embattled actress broke down and wept like a baby as she was led out of the court after the judge ordered that she should be sent to Kirikiri for the second time.
 Painful also was the fact that she was on her way to Port Harcourt when she got a call ordering her to turn back and present herself in court, unknown to her that it would be the beginning of her second journey to Kirikiri prison.
 I’m still AGN president
 Ibinabo also addressed some of the burning issues affecting the smooth running of the actors’ body.
 According to her, while she was away, they freezed the guild’s bank account, making it almost impossible for the leadership of the guild to draw money for their health insurance scheme. She debunked the insinuation that she abandoned her office following the High court ruling that sacked her as the president of the guild, maintaining that she’s still the incumbent president of the Actors Guild of Nigeria. Explaining why she has been away for some time now,the first AGN female president said it was as a result of health challenges. She revealed that she travelled abroad for medical test and they discovered a lump in her breast which has been removed. Speaking further, she said, “the welfare of my members comes before any other thing. We must continue to push on our health insurance scheme for our members.

I have my own health challenges too. I went for a test and they found a growth- a lump in my breasts which I had to remove. So, if we don’t do these tests continuously anything can happen. We usually take our lives for granted. You must continue to go for routine medical examinations. That’s what AGN is all about. We are here to ensure that our members are properly taken care of. We can’t get our money in the bank to pay for our health insurance because they froze the account. I opened the account before the case started.” “We are back on track and everything is beginning to happen again.

From next week, we would start touring all the states with a free computerized eye screening exercise for all members. We are getting back to our rhythm after all the distractions. “Our members are the ones that have suffered. I think it is time we helped them and pay attention to them. We have lost a lot of our members to death recently. It is very painful because we have not been able to pay for insurance scheme following the crises in the guild.” However, following the prolonged crisis rocking the actors’ body, Ibinabo lamented a situation where aggrieved members of the Guild would refer to her prison ordeal each time they want to attack her. ” Every time they want to throw things at me, they would bring it up. I didn’t steal anybody’s money snd I am not a criminal. I was involved in an accident and I have internally remained sorry that it happened. They said I am going to jail again. I almost died the first time I was sent to jail in 2009. I almost committed suicide. But thank God that He brought me out of that depression,” she lamented.
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“Political Hushpuppi” Ugochinyere is one of PDP’s aberrations, he is only cashing out – Wike’s Aide

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Lere Olayinka, Senior Special Assistant on Public Communications and New Media to the Minister of Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, has described House of Representatives member from Ideato North and South Federal Constituency of Imo State, Imo Ugochinyere Ikeagwuonu, as a “political hushpuppi” who was produced by part of the aberrations in the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) that must be made to stop.

Olayinka, who told Ugochinyere to “stop going about masturbating about anything Wike,” admonished him to face the reason for which he was elected into the House of Representatives so that his constituents will stop seeing him as a failure and consistently passing votes of no confidence against him.

While featuring on Channels TV’s Politics Today on Friday, Ugochinyere, had said that the FCT Minister and other G5 Governors like Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State, former governors Samuel Ortom (Benue), Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi (Enugu) and Okezie Ikpeazu (Abia) were determined to destroy the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

However, in a statement in Abuja on Saturday, Olayinka said; “This is one of the things you get when people who joined the PDP today are awarded the ticket of the party tomorrow morning. If not for the aberration in the PDP that produced a character like Ugochinyere, someone who only joined the party in 2022 won’t be the one to lecture us about who is loyal to the party and who’s not.

“If PDP had functioned properly, would a ‘political hushpuppi’ like Ugochinyere have gotten the party’s ticket while still in another party? Even till today, as a PDP Rep member, Ugochinyere is still holding on to his Action Peoples Party (APP), using it to cash-out in Rivers State.

“Therefore, we on this side are not bothered because we understand why Ugochinyere must now mount the podium and accuse Wike of playing childish and kindergarten politics. He must satisfy those feeding him from the resources of Rivers State.”

While mocking Ugochinyere for always having an organization to speak for to carry out his political hustle, Olayinka said; “In saner climes, such character would have been arrested, tried and jailed for impersonation.

“When he got to the House of Representatives and there was no title under which his political hushpuppism would continue, he awarded to himself a non-existing title of ‘Spokesperson of Opposition Lawmakers Coalition in the 10th National Assembly,’ claiming to have been so appointed by the Coalition of United Political Parties (CUPP).

“But the questions are, is CUPP a political party with members in the House of Representatives? Where and when was CUPP registered? Apart from the positions of Minority Leader, Deputy Minority Leader, Minority Whip and Deputy Minority Whip, is there anything like spokesperson of opposition lawmakers in the National Assembly?

“Being a political hustler that he has always been, Ugochinyere, knew that he will be contravening the rules of the National Assembly by allocating to himself, a non-existing position, but he just must have a title to keep his hustle going, and indeed, it has been booming.

“Impersonating as spokesperson of opposition lawmakers in the House of Representatives, Ugochinyere has been cashing out in Rivers State in particular. If he is not using his former party, APP, to cash-out, he will be using his amorphous opposition lawmakers to chop from inside the Rivers.”

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Decimated Hezbollah says it is ready for cease-fire talks with Israel

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Hezbollah said Tuesday it is now ready to engage in cease-fire talks with Israel, after suffering serious blows to its leadership and ranks in recent months.

The terror group in Lebanon made the announcement after firing more than 100 rockets at the Jewish state hours earlier.

Hezbollah’s deputy secretary general, Naim Qassem, publicly endorsed a truce with Israel, the first such time the terror group has proposed a cease-fire not conditioned on the war in Gaza.

“We support the political efforts led by [Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih] Berri under the banner of achieving a cease-fire,” Qassem said, according to a CNN translation.

“Once the cease-fire is firmly established and diplomacy can reach it, all other details will be discussed and decisions will be made collaboratively,” he added.

Qassem’s announcement came within hours of a massive barrage that sent more than 100 missiles soaring from Lebanon at Israel’s northern city of Haifa, the third-largest metropolis in the Jewish state.

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“Absolutely Clueless And Easily The Worst Manager I Played Under” — Mikel Obi Blasts Sunday Oliseh; Blames Him For Vincent Enyeama’s Early Retirement

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He said’ “I remember the first day he came into the camp. Then we reported to the camp for International duties, then he came straight at me and Vincent Enyeama, the goalkeeper, who also was very powerful back then.”

“He came straight at us and Elderson Echiejile, and he said a few things. He said he heard there was a lot of player power with us.

“Then Enyeama was like, ‘What’s wrong with you? Where are you getting all of these from? We are a nice group, and you just come in, and the first thing is to attack us?

“He was like ‘I heard about you guys.’ And then Enyeama stood up and told him he couldn’t say that because we had been here for so many years. They started arguing, and literally, they were going to have a fight.

“He took Enyeama out of the team, and he came at us saying he was going to take us out of the team. He said he was going to take us out of the team; he said he was going to make sure we didn’t play anymore.”

“Enyeama could not take it, and despite my pleas, he left the camp angrily and never came back.”

“He (Oliseh) had absolutely no clue of how a manager is. He was a fantastic guy in his playing days, but as a coach, he was very terrible. He had no clue what he was doing.

“The players never understood anything he was doing, and he did not know what he was doing. He was just confused because he just came in and destroyed the team’s togetherness.

“His excuse when he got fired was that the people and FA did voodoo on him not to succeed. He was easily the worst manager I played under.

“He was so bitter with everybody, jealous with everybody, and had no respect for speaking to anybody, whether the physio or anybody,” he added.

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