TODAY'S HIGHLIGHTS IN HISTORY (SEPT.19)

19, 1982, the smiley emoticon was invented as Carnegie Mellon University Professor Scott E. Fahlman proposed punctuating humorously intended computer messages by employing a colon followed by a hyphen and a parenthesis as a horizontal "smiley face." :-)

On this date:

In 1777, the first Battle of Saratoga was fought during the Revolutionary War; although the British forces succeeded in driving out the American troops, the Americans prevailed in a second battle the following month.

In 1796, President George Washington's farewell address was published.

In 1881, the 20th president of the United States, James A. Garfield, died 2 1/2 months after being shot by Charles Guiteau; Chester Alan Arthur became president.

'IT AIN'T NOTHIN': P-DIDDY BOASTS ABOUT LOSING $1 MILLION TO RAPPER RICK ROSS

For most people it's a fortune but Diddy didn't care about losing $1 million to rapper Rick Ross in the early hours of this morning. The 43-year-old rapper and entrepreneur - who has a net worth of $580

Million – lost the huge sum to Ross shooting dice in a recording studio but bragged 'it ain't nothing'.

Diddy was so blasé about the loss that he posted a video to his Instagram page, showing his IOU to Rick, scrawled on lined paper, and the events leading up to the loss.

He is seen swigging from a bottle of his own brand CIROC vodka before three dice are rolled and he loses.

AMERICAN MUSICIAN, MADONNA REVEALS SHE RECENTLY DREAMT ABOUT BEING IN BED WITH BRAD PITT

Madonna has been interviewed by hundreds of publications, from Vanity Fair to The New York Times. But it was her fans that got her to spill the most during an online chat Monday on Reddit. Her juiciest

reveal was that she had a dream she was in bed with Brad Pitt.

She saw Brad Pitt in her sleep: The 55-year-old admits she recently had a dream she was in bed with Angelina Jolie's fiance

'Brad Pitt and I were living together and there was a small blonde child in the bed,' the Material Girl, 55, said.

'Sorry Angelina, it was only a dream.'

PAUL OKOYE PROPOSES TO HIS LONGTIME GIRLFRIEND, ANITA ISAMA

The popular star musical duo, Psquare are ready tie the knot. It can be recalled that recently one of the twins, Peter Okoye proposed to his longtime girlfriend, Lola Omotayo, we gathered that his twin

brother Paul Okoye has followed suit, as just yesterday he proposed to his longtime sweetheart after he returned from his US/Canada tour on Wednesday.

MAN, WIFE ARRESTED AFTER SLEEPING WITH PET DOGS

An American soldier and his wife remained locked up Tuesday after having sex with dogs and sharing clips of the encounters online, cops said. Ruben and Amber Fox, both 23, were caught Monday in Raeford,

N.C., south of the Army base.

Their capture followed an investigation that culminated two weeks ago, when Fairfax County authorities in Virginia alerted Raeford about the criminal activity, police Maj. Marc Godwin told the Daily News.

The couple has been charged with bestiality, disseminating obscene materials and conspiracy.

Amber Fox was additionally charged with soliciting a crime against nature, police said.

Two mixed-breed dogs and three cats were rescued from the couple's Raeford home and brought to an animal shelter.

DEPORTED NIGERIAN DRUG DEALER CAUGHT AND DISGRACED IN KENYA AFTER JUMPING BORDER (VIDEO)

A Nigerian deportee arrested in Nairobi last Friday is a notorious drug trafficker, the court heard on Monday. Mr Emmanuel Peter Inobemhe was kicked out of the country four months ago alongside other drug kingpins after President Uhuru Kenyatta declared an all out war on drug traffickers.

He pleaded not guilty to multiple counts of drug trafficking when he appeared before the chief magistrate’s court on Monday.

He was arrested in a sting operation at Donholm Estate on Friday alongside a Kenyan woman, Virginia Wangechi, who was equally ordered into police custody over the pending investigations.

The prosecution said 445 satchets of the drug were confiscated in the house in which the pair were found Friday night.

Peter will also face charges of being in the country illegally.

ALL THE FACTS ABOUT NIGERIAN UNIVERSITIES –1

After almost twenty years writing on just about every subject concerning our national life, it has recently occurred to me that the most important work had been neglected. That is the education of Nigerian youth at all levels.
But, for now I am starting with university education and more specifically private universities.

University education in Nigeria presents a paradox; close to 80 per cent of kids leaving secondary schools can’t obtain admission to universities and tertiary institutions in Nigeria. Yet, there are surprisingly thousands of vacancies in public and private universities – especially private universities.

A second paradox confronts us. Nigerians complain about the quality of education available in most Nigerian universities; so they send their kids to Ghana and spend $500 million, or N80 billion, a year on that venture. Yet, there are at least 12 private universities in Nigeria which offer superior education than any university in Ghana.

POLICE LIED ABOUT MY RESCUE – ARCHBISHOP KATTEY

PORT HARCOURT — ARCHBISHOP of Niger Delta Province of Nigerian Anglican Communion, Most Rev. Ignatius Kattey, yesterday, accused the Nigeria Police of lying over their claim that they secured his release from the kidnappers who abducted him penultimate Friday.

Briefing newsmen in Eleme, Rivers State, to share his nine days experience in the den of the kidnappers four days after regaining freedom, Most Rev. Kattey thanked the Police for their efforts, but said that they were not the ones who rescued him.

He said: “The Police did not rescue me, neither were they the ones who rescued my wife, Beatrice. I saw the Police for the first time two days ago, after the incident. I  heard the statements made by the Rivers State Police Public Relations Officer, PPRO. The police are telling lies. If you cannot trust the Police, then who can you trust? I told the Commissioner of Police and he has apologised.

MAN, 46, ARRAIGNED IN RAPE OF THREE UNDER-AGED GIRLS

Lagos — A 46-year-old man, Michael Unumahengie, was yesterday arraigned before an Ikeja magistrate’s court, Lagos, for allegedly raping and defiling three minors.
Unumahengie, who was docked before Magistrate Mrs E. Daudu, is facing a three-count charge bordering on rape, preferred against him by the police.

The prosecutor said that the defendant committed the alleged crime on September 6 at 9pm, in Alausa, Ikeja area of Lagos State. The three victims are aged 10, nine and six, respectively.

The prosecutor said the offence is punishable under Section 137 of the criminal law of Lagos State of Nigeria 2011.

The defendant pleaded not guilty to the charges read to him. But the magistrate refused him bail.

The magistrate remanded the defendant in Kirikiri prison and adjourned the case till October 17 for hearing.

NIGERIAN WINS WORLD MUSLIM BEAUTY PAGEANT

But the contestants from six countries were covered from head to foot, and as well as beauty they were judged on how well they recited Koranic verses and their views on Islam in the modern world.

After a show in front of an audience of mainly religious scholars and devout Muslims, a panel of judges picked Obabiyi Aishah Ajibola from Nigeria as the winner.

While the event in a Jakarta shopping mall paled in comparison to Miss World on the resort island of Bali, in which scores of contestants are competing, Ajibola was nevertheless overwhelmed.

Upon hearing her name, the 21-year-old knelt down and prayed, then wept as she recited a Koranic verse.

She said it was “thanks to almighty Allah” that she had won the contest. She received 25 million rupiah ($2,200) and trips to Mecca and India as prizes.

FRANCIS DURU ADVOCATES CREATION OF SCREEN-FRIENDLY NOVELS

Abuja – A Nollywood actor, Francis Duru, has called for the writing of novels suitable for film adaptation to boost the quality of film content and enhance the country’s international repute.

Duru on Wednesday in Abuja said that most novels were intellectual in nature which was a challenge for filmmakers to adopt to suite the screen.

He said authors needed to write entertaining novels in order for the film version to be successful in the Nigerian market.

He noted that the film industry in Nigeria was currently a commercial venture, hence filmmakers focused on producing films that met the demand of the public for profit making.

ALLEGED N10.6M FRAUD: POLICE DECLARE ANAMBRA COMMISSIONER WANTED

AWKA— The Special Fraud Unit, SFU of the Force Criminal Investigation Department,  has declared the Anambra State Commissioner for Special Duties, Mr.  Vincent Ejikeme Ezewajiaku wanted for allegedly obtaining the sum of N10. 6 Million by false pretense and forgery.

The serving commissioner according to the Unit’s spokes person, Ngozi Insitume-Agu, a Deputy Superintendent of Police, was invited to the Unit to answer questions bothering on the allegation, twice, but failed to show up.

Detectives from the Unit whom she said visited Anambra state to effect   Ezewajiaku’s arrest, later released him on bail to one Engineer Obi Okwudili who stood as a surety.

But following the commissioner’s alleged refusal to show up at the Unit as promised, his surety according to Insitume-Agu, was arrested.

Trouble as gathered, erupted after the Unit received a petition from an undisclosed businessman, who alleged that sometime between 1996 and 2002, the commissioner who was then   Managing Director of BIO Plastic limited, invited him to invest in his company as a co director,with an agreement that he (complainant) would acquire 34% of the equity at the end of investment.

6 FAKE LASTMA CAUGHT BY THE OFFICIALS IN LAGOS

Fake LASTMA officers were caught and arrested by the Lagos State Task-force on Environmental and Special Offences (Enforcement) Unit.

Six fake LASTMA officer were caught while allegedly extorting money from motorists in Lagos Mainland, Lagos, southwest Nigeria.

Also arrested in Oshodi are 13 under-aged hoodlums. They were all brought to the task-force office at Alausa in a Black Maria.

Task-force Chairman, Bayo Sulaiman, a Chief Superintendent of Police, said the fake LASTMA and task-force officials issued forged receipts to motorists after threatening them with prosecution.

According to Sulaiman, the suspects were arrested after they had extorted huge sums of money from motorists and residents, saying that local governments could not establish a parallel task-force with the existing one.

He alleged that the parallel task-force was formed by the Mainland Local Government to generate illegal income for the council, declaring the act as purely illegal and criminal.

TIWA SAVAGE IS GETTING MARRIED NOVEMBER 23

Nigerian Singer Tiwa Savage is Planning to get married to her hearth robber, Tunji Balogun on November 23rd 2013, Tiwa Savage Traditional wedding is on the 23rd November at  the Ark in Lekki,Lagos. more details soon…

IBORI HID ASSETS IN OANDO – BRITISH PROSECUTOR

Convicted former Delta State Governor, Chief James Ibori, hid some of his assets in an indigenous integrated oil company, Oando Plc, according to a British prosecutor.

The prosecutor was quoted by Reuters in a report on Monday as saying that the former governor, who is serving a 13-year jail term in the United Kingdom for fraud and money-laundering, hid some of his assets in the oil firm; adding that money passed from Oando’s accounts into Ibori’s Swiss accounts.

Ibori had in February 2012 pleaded guilty to 10 counts of fraud and money-laundering worth £50m.

Prosecutor Sasha Wass was quoted as telling the court that she would be presenting evidence that Ibori had “asserted ownership of a large part” of Oando, Nigeria’s biggest home-grown oil firm, which is listed in Lagos, Johannesburg and Toronto.

“The Crown will assert that Oando is a company where James Ibori has hidden assets,” Wass said, giving no further details.

One of the biggest embezzlement cases seen in Britain, the successful prosecution of Ibori was also a rare example of a senior Nigerian politician being held to account for the corruption that blights Africa’s most populous country.