Nigeria News
Mercy Johnson speaks for the first time on marriage and motherhood
Nollywood actress Mercy Johnson is undoubtedly having the time of her life. She got married in August 2011 and in December 2012, gave birth to her daughter in the United States of America. Even though its been almost two years since her wedding, Mercy still giggled and spoke about her husband with such fondness as a newlywed.
In her first major interview (with lifestyle blog BellaNaija) since the marriage and her beautiful baby, Ms. Johnson speaks candidly about controversies surrounding the way she used to dress, how she met her husband, the lessons she has learnt and her life now!
Excerpts:
It’s great to see you Mercy. Let me start by saying that you have a beautiful home.
Thank you. It was a surprise from my husband, Odi. He didn’t tell me about it while we were in America and when I returned back to Nigeria, I thought we were going to our former house but he drove me straight here. And then he also gave me a new car with the plate number ‘Odi’s Wife’.
Aww, that’s so sweet. There’s been a lot of media attention surrounding the birth of your daughter and her recent dedication. How does this make you feel?
At a point, I actually felt the whole thing was over dramatized. I really appreciate the fact that some people wish me well and are happy for me which is why I share her picture on Twitter once in a while. On my Twitter page, more than 3000 people ask me about Purity every day. Sometimes I get overwhelmed but I’m grateful for the love and goodwill messages and I can only say thank you.Purity is quite a unique name. What inspired her name?
When I asked my husband, he said “You. She reminds me so much of you.” He said I have a good heart and he’d really want her to have a good heart and clear conscience like me. And he’d wish for everything about her to be pure.
As a first time Mom, how has the experience been so far?
It’s magical, it’s awesome! I just can’t stop staring at her. When I was pregnant, my sister-in-law came to the house and when her son pooped I said “Oh my God, don’t let it touch my chair!” Then I was about six months gone and she just looked at me and said “In three months time, you will understand”. And really, it is true. Now when Purity poops, I begin to dance. Everything is special. I want to clean her up myself, dress her up myself. I just can’t explain, she makes me complete.Has pregnancy and motherhood affected or changed you in any way?
Well, you can see, I’ve added so much weight. But aside from my physical appearance, having Purity has changed me so much as a person. Having her makes me want to set the right example, to have good records so she doesn’t get embarrassed when she’s grown. It changes my perspective to life and the way I react to things. I tolerate things more, I overlook things more. I love children generally but now I understand how precious every child is to their mother so I try to treat other children the way I’d want her to be treated if I’m not around.When did you meet him and how did the love spark between both of you?
I met him in 2009. We had met before on a flight and I didn’t remember but we met again in 2009. He is a good person. I can’t really tell how it started. We kinda clicked and started dating just about the same month and it feels like we’ve been married for four years because since we met, we’ve been really into each other we’ve been really close.He must have known you were an actress then. How did this affect the way you started off your relationship?
Yes he did, but he didn’t know I was that big because he didn’t really follow the movie industry. Sometimes you meet some guys and they get intimidated about you but not with him. The first time we were supposed to have a date, he said “Let’s go to my house so you can cook for me” and in my mind I was like “Seriously, this guy doesn’t even know my name”. So I said “My name is Mercy Johnson” and he said “Yes I know”.What is the most romantic thing he has done for you recently?
He got me a new diamond ring different from my wedding band. I kept saying I want a new band, something really big and he got it for me. He is extremely loveable.In the weeks before your wedding, some controversies sprang up and there were speculations that the wedding may not hold. How were you able to pull through this period?
I knew my wedding was going to hold. It is easy for people who are outside a box to try to explain the inside of a box without coming inside. People who didn’t know anything had lots to say. But it was fun to let them have their say. If having your say makes you feel better, I can’t take that fun away from you. But we in the box knew what’s up and people who wanted to know what was going on actually came into the box and knew the truth.Was there anything new that you learnt during that period that you didn’t already know?
No. It was just shocking how people would bring negativity into what’s positive. I think that was the only thing that was new to me.Google ranked your name as the most searched celebrity in Nollywood for 2011 and 2012. Are you proud of this?
When I asked my husband if it a good thing and he said yes it is. I know that it’s not possible for everyone to like me so good or bad, if you ever googled Mercy Johnson’s name, thank you. If you didn’t google, google won’t say I’m the most searched so thank you, keep googling.Do you have any affiliation with the gossip website mercyjohnson.com?
No, I don’t have any and I’d like to stress that please. I don’t know why somebody would do a magazine and call it Mercy Johnson Celebrity Magazine or why somebody would take my name and put it on a domain for a gossip website. I can’t even use the domain name anymore and I’m so pissed. I am only on Twitter. I’m not even on Facebook anymore because somebody put up a Facebook account in my name where they put up inspirational messages on my behalf and I don’t even know where that is coming from.Let’s talk about your style. What influences the kind of clothes you wear?
I don’t wear what is in vogue or what everybody is wearing, I just wear what suits me and I’m lucky to have a physique that encourages everything I wear. My husband is a huge critic so when he compliments my dressing, I feel so good. He doesn’t believe that exposing anything makes you look better. He feels when you cover up, you look real nice.Would you say your personal style has changed since you got married?
You know, you get wiser by the day. Sometimes when I look back at some old pictures, I’m like “Seriously, did I wear that?” I’ve learnt a lot since I got married and I know that if I had gotten married earlier, I wouldn’t have made most of the errors I made. When you are married to somebody who is so organized, he brings you up the right way and reminds you of who you’re supposed to be.Is there any particular reason why you decided to gave birth to (your baby) in the USA?
No, I could have given birth here but I was at a point in my life where everything meant a lot to me. By God’s grace, I got pregnant barely a year after I got married and I just wanted everything to be fine. Not that it wouldn’t have been fine here in Nigeria but it would be odd for us to say we are not aware of the lapses in our health care system.
As a first time Mom, how has the experience been so far?——————————————————————————————————————————————-
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The Kano State Government on Saturday said it has transferred 1,098 ‘almajiris’ to different states of the country.
The commissioner for local government, Murtala Garo, disclosed this while presenting a report before the state’s task force on COVID-19 at the government house, Kano.
Almajiris are children who are supposed to be learning Islamic studies while living with their Islamic teachers. Majority of them, however, end up begging on the streets of Northern Nigeria. They constitute a large number of Nigeria’s over 10 million out-of-school children.
Mr Garo said the Kano government transported 419 almajiris to Katsina, 524 to Jigawa and 155 to Kaduna. He said all of them tested negative for coronavirus before leaving the Kano State.
Despite the coronavirus test done in Kano for the almajiris, the Jigawa government earlier said it would quarantine for two weeks all the almajiris that recently arrived from Kano.
Mr Garo said another 100 almajiris scheduled to be taken to Bauchi State also tested negative to COVID-19.
In a remark, Governor Abdullahi Ganduje said the COVID-19 situation in Kano was getting worse. He appealed for a collaborative effort to curtail the spread of the virus in the state.
Mr Ganduje, who commended residents for complying with the lockdown imposed in the state, said the decision was taken to halt the spread of the virus.
Kano State, as of Saturday night, has 77 coronavirus cases, according to the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control.
The decision to transfer the Kano almajiris is part of the agreement reached between Northern governors that almajiris in each state be transferred to their states of origin.
However, even before the latest agreement by the governors, the Kano government had been transferring almajiris to other states and neighbouring countries after it banned street begging in the state, most populous in Northern Nigeria.
Despite the transfers, however, no concrete step has been taken to ensure such children do not return to Kano streets as there is freedom of movement across Nigeria although interstate travel was recently banned to check the spread of the coronavirus.
Sourced From: Premium Times Nigeria
By Ugochukwu Alaribe
Operatives of the Abia State Vigilante Service, AVS, popularly known as ‘Bakassi Boys’ have arrested 24 market women hidden in a container truck, at Ekwereazu Ngwa, the boundary community between Abia and Akwa Ibom states.
The market women, said to be from Akwa Ibom State, were on their way to Aba, when they were arrested with the truck driver and two of his conductors for violating the lockdown order by the state government.
Driver of the truck, Moses Asuquo, claimed he was going to Aba to purchase stock fish, but decided to assist the market women, because they were stranded.
A vigilante source told Sunday Vanguard that the vehicle was impounded while the market women were sent back to Akwa Ibom State.
Commissioner for Home Land Security, Prince Dan Okoli, who confirmed the incident, said that smuggling of people into the state poses great threat to the state government’s efforts to contain the spread of COVID- 19.
Sourced From: Vanguard News
Operatives of the State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department (SCIID), Yaba of the Lagos State police command have arrested one Mrs Nene Steve for allegedly killing her maid, Joy Adole
The maid was allegedly beaten to death by Nene for requesting for her salary at their residence located at 18, Ogundola Street, Bariga area in Lagos.
Narrating the incident, Philips Ejeh, an elder brother to the deceased said that he was sad when they informed him that his sister was beaten to death.
He explained that the deceased was an indigene of Benue State brought to Lagos through an agent and started working with her as a maid in January 2020.
‘’She reported that her boss refused to pay her and anytime she asked for her salary she will start beating her.
She was making an attempt to leave the place but due to the total lockdown she remained there until Sunday when her boss said she caught her stealing noodles and this led to her serious beating and death,’’ Ejeh said.
He called on Lagos State Government and well- meaning people in the country to help them in getting justice for the victim.
The police spokesman, Bala Elkana, stated that the woman and her husband came to Bariga Police Station to a report that their house girl had committed suicide.
Detectives were said to have visited the house and suspected foul play with the position of the rope and bruises all over the body which confirmed that the girl had been tortured to death and the boss decided to hang up the girl to make it look like suicide.
He said: “The police moved on with their investigation and found a lot of sign of violence on her body that she has been tortured before a rope was put on her neck.’’
He added that the police removed the corpse and deposited it in the mortuary for autopsy to further ascertain the cause of the death.
Elkana said the matter has been transferred from Bariga police station to Panti for further investigation while the couple have been arrested and will be charged to court.
Ostensibly alarmed by the latest killings of dozens of soldiers by Boko Haram insurgents, President Muhammadu Buhari has summoned an urgent meeting of Service Chiefs to find ways to stop the trend.
He has also dispatched the Minister of Defence, Mansur Dan Ali, to the neighbouring Republic of Chad for an urgent meeting with President Idris Deby and his defence counterpart.
Knowledgeable sources said in Abuja on Friday that the president is worried by on the deterioration of security situation on the Nigeria – Chad Border that has led to the recently increased Boko Haram terrorism in the area.
The sources which did not want to be named in Abuja said: “Nigeria has a Chad problem in the Multi-National Joint Task Force (MNJTF) put together to secure the Lake Chad basin areas and repeal the Boko Haram terrorist attacks against all the countries neighbouring the Lake.”
The sources noted that Chad is believed to be having their own internal security challenges and this has reportedly led to their pulling away their own troops manning their own border around Lake Chad, saying: “That lacuna is being exploited by the Boko Haram terrorists, who go in and out of Nigeria, Niger and Cameroon to launch terrorist acts. This is a clear illustration of the fact that terrorism is beyond national borders.”
When contacted, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, confirmed that the Defence Minister is going to Chad but said he is unaware of the purpose.
Meanwhile, the military authorities are said to be in the process of identifying the families of the latest victims with a view to making contact with them.
Credible sources revealed that it is the reason the president is yet to make any pronouncement on the matter.
“The President has called an urgent meeting with the Service Chiefs, as well as the fact that families of the latest victims of the Boko Haram are being identified and contacts made before a government pronouncement on the tragic attacks. This, it is understood, is the reason for the silence of the government over the incident,” the source said.
Sourced From: Tribune
Nigeria records 55 new COVID-19 infections, total now 165,110
Military, Police Ring Abuja to Forestall Boko Haram Attack
UFC: Usman gets N584m after beating Masvidal
Insecurity: Lagos bans occupation of abandoned buildings
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