Outrageous! Scandalous! Unbelievable! The Top 10 scandals of 2011

It would have really been a boring year if we didn’t have scandals right? Our celebrity scandals list is a collection of every outrageous affair and notorious incident involving Nigeria’s most famous people.

With Slapsgiving in our hearts!

We begin with the most sensitive of them all, why it only just occurred a few days ago. On Saturday, 17 December, Nigerian affiliated social networking site across the globe went into a frenzy with comments after a YouTube video showing the general overseer of the Living Faith Church (aka Winners Chapel), Pastor David Oyedepo, smack an unyielding female church member on the face during a deliverance service. Let’s just say the slap was a resounding one.

The video became an internet sensation immediately, and yesterday despite few attempts to clarify the incident, there was a widespread condemnation of the pastor’s action, which many saw as gender or child abuse especially after millions watched the British documentary and campaign on “Saving Africa’s Witch Children.”

In the video, the man of God moved towards the lady who was among those kneeling down at the pulpit and asked “You have been there for how long?” And the lady replied “I am not a witch. I am a witch for Jesus.”

Pastor Oyedepo retorted: “You are what?” The lady said: “My own witch is for Jesus.”

After staring at her for a while, he said: “You are a foul devil. Do you know who you are talking to? Foul Devil…”  Then he slapped her.

“Where are from?”   He asked. The young woman, bent over holding her face, replied that she hailed from Imo state. “Where did you get the witch from?” Oyedepo queried. She repeated loudly again that she was a witch for Jesus and then docked in reflex expecting another slap.

Oyedepo rebuked her saying: “Jesus has no witches. You are a devil. You are not set for deliverance. You are free to go to Hell’. Amongst the many reactions online, Obi Asika, CEO of Storm 360, responded on Facebook after watching the video: “Nt sure this is right at all.”

The Beat, Literally

It’s not the first time there would be an outrage over physical assualt. Popular radio station, the BEAT FM, briefly became the ‘BEAT of him’ after radio host, Olisa Adibua decided to hit a co-worker at the station.

According to the reports, it was at about 2am on 8 September, when Adibua walked into the radio station and began trashing a member of his staff, Dewunmi, who is a new editor with Naija FM 102.7. Adibua at the time was the programme director of Naija FM and of the Beat 99.9, as well as a morning host on the ‘Morning Rush’ program. The pictures of a battered Dewunmi went viral on the internet and Adibua was forced to send an apology. Someone said it was inevitable since he worked at a station called BEAT on a show named Morning RUSH, for health and safety reasons, we hope he doesn’t get a job at The PUNCH!

#ABSURape

On a very sad note, physical assault reached a whole new level with this one. In September, a shocking video of an Abia State University female student being gang raped by five men found its way to the blogosphere. It was not the first time we had heard about a rape crime  but to watch it happen over the Internet, and on mobile phones was very disturbing, society as we knew it had gone up in flames and our hearts broke not so much in anger or pain as it did in shame.

A group of boys recorded each other as they took turns raping a girl, then they passed the footage around to their friends, who then passed it round the ABSU campus till it found its way to the Internet.

In the rape video, which went on for over an hour, the girl wailed and tried to fight free- of course the men restrained her; they slapped her, and even threatened  to kill her while having very aggressive and sadomasochistic sex with her. As the pain became unbearable, people watched her beg for her life to be taken while the men laughed on and then told her that if she didn’t co-operate, they would keep her in the room and continue raping her for two days.

It was a horrible video to watch and it sparked outraged nationwide, campaigns were launched and protests were carried out. The Vice Chancellor and the Abia State government however, denied that the incident took place in the state and the culprits are still roaming free.

Is that Mo’Cheddah?

In October, a nude picture allegedly of music artiste, Mo’Cheddah went viral on twitter. It was reported that she tried to send a direct message to fellow artiste, Eldee but somehow it leaked onto our timelines. Of course, the denials followed backed up with claims of their accounts being hacked. In a matter of minutes, before either of them could take down the sexy photo, people had saved it and later on released modified versions of the picture. We. Were. Like. OMG!

Wizkid… and a kid!

Just like Justin Bieber, bloggers were on Wizkid’s case concerning paternity claims in August. Up till this moment, the rumours about the EME signed crooner and his alleged undergraduate baby-mama has not been confirmed but it made our list nevertheless based on the Internet buzz, the continuous denials and the link to a potential “TuFace lifestyle”.  Wizkid whose real name is  Ayo Balogun is 21 years old and has also been linked to daring actress, Tonto Dike since hitting the lime light.

#Suwe’sDaddy – Shit Happens

This story started like a joke and ended like a typical Nigerian movie, which some can argue, is also a joke. But for his troubles, the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA were ordered  to pay the leading man, Babatunde Omidina, popularly called Baba Suwe, N25 million  as compensation for unlawful detention and breach of his human right. Now that’s serious cash!

The comedy actor was arrested on suspicion of carrying drugs in his system, as he attempted to board a Paris bound flight on 12 October but after more than three weeks in jail, and 25 bowel movements, officials from the NDLEA admitted he had failed to excrete any drugs.

Married to controversy

One scandal that people haven’t stopped talking about is the husband snatching antics of sexy actress, Mercy Johnson. For a long time, her wedding was the talk of the town among celebrities and her fans but in August a new twist to the story emerged. A Nigerian woman who claimed to be the legal wife of Prince Odianose Okojie, stepped forward out of the blues and declared that Johnson was a husband thief.  Apparently, her efforts to stop the marriage didn’t work, as Johnson tied the knots with Okojie that same month. This gist really sizzled, we believe it will make a blockbuster Nollywood movie some… hold on a sec…ya, they’ve made a movie on it already.

The Honourable Bankole

This scandal both shocked and annoyed us. After several days of playing ‘catch me if you can’, the former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mr Dimeji Bankole was arrested by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on 5 June. Bankole’s detention was the highest profile case in many months for the EFCC, founded by former President Olusegun Obasanjo in 2003.

The allegations against Bankole included taking more than £40 million loan from United Bank for Africa PLC for his office. That was on top of his annual salary and money already budgeted for his office, which runs into the millions of dollars (too obscene to be counted in Naira. Please don’t do the math, you’ll live longer). He was charged to court for inflating contract awards which includes the cost of 400 units of 40-inch Samsung (LNS.3410 Television sets) purchased at the rate of N525, 000 per unit, instead of the prevailing market price of N295, 000 and thereby committed an offense contrary to Section 58 (4) (a) of the Public Procurement Act No. 14 of 2007 and punishable under Section 58 (5) of the same Act.  The arrest took place at his Abuja home, after he resisted for more than four hours, and was said to have been planing to flee the country. That was something!

“Hurry, grab your Umblerra!”

Ever since the First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan hit the spotlight with her, er, grammar, we’ve been having the time of our lives. The Dame has not only made us laugh but left us dazed and flabbergasted at the same time. One of the most popular words she has used consistently during her many public speaking routines is ‘umblerra’, a tweak on the actual word – Umbrella. She kept repeating this word at he slightest opportunity during the election campaigns. On the Internet, there are several other takes on her grammatical bravado, one time while speaking to widows she allegedly addressed them as: “My fellow widows!” and bloggers recently reported that during last month’s World AIDS Day event, she said in a speech: “We all have AIDS, it’s just that some of us are negative while others are positive.” Wow!

Dbanj’s the scapegoat

When young Nigerians invited all the Presidential candidates to a debate tagged “What About Us?” to be anchored by  novelist, Chimamanda Adichie none of them turned up, instead Nigerian youths were conned into watching President Goodluck  Jonathan’s pre- arranged one-man “debate,” with…wait for it…Nigeria’s hip-hop star, D’banj.

On 17 March, D’banj sat with President Jonathan to ask questions “concerning the youth.”  According to online news portals, it was an outrage and D’banj was an embarrassment. He spent much of the interview nodding blankly at the President’s uninformed answers. The social media universe was merciless. It twittered insults at D’banj and on Facebook, more barbs were flung at the two men. Aha aha, it’s Don Jazzy again!

 

Comments (3)

  1. Trolololol! U guys haff kee me o!

  2. This is so both funny and exhilarating.Nice editorial job here,I love the story about the BEAT FM scandal,I'm seriously laughing my bombom out.as the suwe baba,cash story rocks everyones mind. I'm so babasuwe,I don't give a shit anytime.

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cool good eh love2 cute confused notgood numb disgusting fail