PHOTOS: Where did all these wealth come from? see Orji Uzor Kalu's house and riches

 

Jason Njoku & Chimimanda Adichie on BBC's Today Programme

Earlier today, leading Internet entrepreneur, Jason Njoku and literary star Chimimanda Ngozi Adichie were interviewed by the BBC's Evan Davis and Nkem Ifejika, as part of the BBC's focus on Nigeria as one of the world's leading emerging economies. The show was broadcast to millions of people around the world on the Today Programme and on the BBC's NewsDay on the World Service.

The story of North Korean leader feeding his uncle to 120 dogs was the imagination of an impostor blogger

Oh dear. An impostor blogger with a wild sense of imagination has deceived the world, if the article from BBC today is to be believed. The story culled from Chinese newspaper Wen Wei Po and carried by a lot of the major online news sites, including Daily Mail, NYTimes, and LIB (hehe), claimed that North Korean dictator Kim Jong-Un stripped his 'traitor' uncle naked and fed him and six others to a pack of 120 dogs that had been starved for three days. (If you missed the story, read it HERE)

Apparently nothing like that happened. The originator of the story is a blogger who calls himself Choi Seongho, and claims to be a North Korean newspaper editor now studying in China. Thing is, there's another Choi Seongho, who is way more popular and recognized as a reporter. The real Choi told the BBC that the other Choi is an impostor. Read BBC's report on the fake story after the cut...

A cautionary tale of dogs, imposters and North Korea -
Written by John Sudoworth for the BBC

An anonymous blogger is a tenuous enough source for a news story. But an imposter posing as that anonymous blogger?!

Perhaps not since "curveball" - the now discredited Iraqi defector whose evidence was used to make the case for war - has an unreliable single source had such a field day.

The extraordinary claim that the North Korean leader Kim Jong-un had his uncle fed alive to a pack of hungry dogs comes from this posting on a Chinese microblog.

It's been pointed out by those who've unearthed the trail that all it took was a bit of Chinese and some basic curiosity. But as the sensational story was splashed around the world the original, extremely shaky sourcing on which it was based was lost.

The post containing the gory details of the alleged execution is from a blogger calling himself Choi Seongho and claiming to be a North Korean newspaper editor now studying in China. His blog on Tencent, the country's second most popular microblogging platform, carries satirical comments about life in North Korea. He has 30 thousand followers and he doesn't reply to direct messages.

He also has a namesake. There is a Choi Seongho very much alive and blogging on Sina, China's leading platform. The content is very similar, a mix of seemingly tongue-in-cheek North Korean patriotism and mild satire. But he has more than 2 million followers, was the first of the two to open an account, and although he keeps his identity anonymous, does reply to direct messages.

When asked by the BBC whether he was the source for the dog story, he denied it, saying; "The person on Tencent is someone trying to be me, who is not me."

Admittedly, many of the news organisations carrying the North Korean execution story have wondered out loud at its authenticity. Now we know the original sourcing, a single anonymous Chinese blog masquerading as another, more popular, Chinese blog, the story looks too weak to be worth the ink.

In the end, what all this tells us, as others have pointed out, is that when it comes to North Korea we're too ready to entertain our darkest imaginings, even if we don't quite believe them ourselves.

It is certainly a dark and secretive place, but that makes it all the more important that we report the truth, not a sensational parody of it.

Nigerians named amongst 8 superior groups of people in the US

Writer Amy Chau, who gained notoriety 2 years ago as 'Tiger Mum' after publishing her controversial book 'Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother" where she claimed that Chinese mums make the best parents and ultimately have more successful children, is back in the news.

Chau and her husband, Jed Rubenfeld, just released a controversial (and some say racist) parenting guide called 'The Triple Package', where they declared there to be only eight successful and superior groups of people in the US.

They eight are: Chinese, Jewish, Indian, Iranian, Lebanese-Americans, Nigerians, Cuban exiles and Mormons

'That certain groups do much better in America than others, as measured by income, occupational status, test scores and so on, is difficult to talk about,' Amy and Jed write.

The couple identify three distinguishing features these eight peoples have that guarantees them success over others; superiority, insecurity and impulse control. Continue...

 

Amy Chau, 51, breaks down the 'Triple Package' for her readers as follows: 

1) A superiority complex: Chau believes that any cultural group who innately thinks they are just better than others has an advantage.
Ignoring the wars, genocide and abject human misery this kind of thinking has caused, Chau and her husband declare that 'the superiority complex is antithetical to mainstream liberal thinking...the stuff of racism , colonialism, imperialism, Nazism.'

2) Insecurity: Chau and her husband believe that a deep seated insecurity can be a motivating drive to achieving success.
'That insecurity should be a critical lever of success is another anathema, flouting the entire orthodoxy of contemporary popular and therapeutic psychology,' they write according to the New York Post.
'Note that there’s a deep tension between insecurity and a superiority complex,' the authors continue.
'It’s odd to think of people being simultaneously insecure but also convinced of their divine election or superiority.'

3) Impulse Control: Chau thinks that perseverance and patience are virtues that have been lost to most Americans - but still exist among her eight golden cultural groups.
 'Impulse control refers to the ability to resist temptation, especially the temptation to give up in the face of hardship or quit instead of persevering at a difficult task.'

Gandoki tears it down at glo lafta fest

Nigerian man arrested in NJ for allegedly killing his pregnant wife

On Friday December 27th, 33 year old Babatope Owoseni was arrested in East Orange, New Jersey in connection with the death of his wife who was nine months pregnant at the time of her death.

26 year old Fatoumata Owoseni was found unresponsive at the 39 South Munn Avenue apartment she shared with Babatope. The police have not released info on how he killed her but strangulation is believed to have played a part. Babatope has been charged with her murder and is being held without bail at the Essex County Corrections Facility.

This guy actually dated someone I  know who left him because of his violent behaviour. Wo

Photos: Rev Chris Okotie shows off his exotic & very expensive rides

The Household of God Head Pastor recently acquired a Rolls Royce Phantom said to be worth N80m and a Range Rover Autobiography worth N30million. He said he bought these cars to celebrate 27 years as a pastor and 30 years as a born again Christian. He opened his garage doors to Encomium magazine and let them take photos of his exotic automobiles to show to the world. See more photos after the cut...