Photos from the Hollywood Film Awards

The 18th Annual Hollywood Film Awards held last night November 14th at the Palladium in LA. Pictured above Angelina Jolie, Jennifer Lopez and Kristen Stewart. See more pics from the event after the cut...

Keira Knightly

 

Julianne Moore

 Channing Tatum and wife, Jenna

Reese Witherspoon and Hilary Swank

 

Steven Tyler and Shailene Woodley

 Kristen Stewart

 Steve Carell, Robert Downey Jnr and Robert Duvall

  

Pics: Nigerian female football stars step out in lovely white dresses

Nigeria female footballer of the year, Asissat Oshola and her colleagues all stepped out looking fab in their little white dresses at a sports function recently. Think it was the Nigeria Football Awards which held on Thursday November 13th at the Muson Center in Lagos. See more photos after the cut...

 

Comedian MC Long dies 8 days after ghastly car accident

Jos-based comedian and musician Longji Joseph popularly known as MC Longs has died, 8 days after he was involved in ghastly car accident. (his car pictured left after the accident).

The married father of two was driving around 8pm with a friend on November 6th from Barkin Ladi Local Govt Area of Plateau state when he was involved in a road traffic collision. He was rushed to the hospital where doctors detected he'd fractured a few limbs. He eventually fell into a coma and was put on life support. He died last night November 14th. His friend survived the accident.

The comedian said to be in his early 30s is survived by a young wife and two children. May his soul rest in peace...amen.

Mercy Johnson releases family pics with husband, daughter & new born son

Awww, how cute are these photos? Mercy Johnson Okojie just released new family photos with her husband, daughter Purity and one month old son, Henry. See the beautiful photos after the cut...

  

LoverBoy! Ik Ogbonna gushes over Colombian Girlfriend

Ik Ogbonna is drunk inlove. Checkout what he just posted

: "TGIF with a lady so beautiful even d stars come out earlier to admire her ... sonialareinaa never met a lady with a beautiful heart ... Amazing personality... Drama free ... Caring ... Hardworking ... Full of positivity And most of all very intelligent.. Ibolombian girl ... Forgive me if I celebrate my woman ... She deserves that and more.. Incase u plan an hating my post I wish u a man that WLD adore and celebrate u always . Bye ... But then Again y did I put up two pix of ma self.. smh for my vain self ..

See Photos: How My Uncle Impregnanted me after Raping Me for 4 Years-16 year old househelp

 No one could have imagined that 16-year-old Gloria (not real name) was just two weeks away from the delivery of a child on September 3, 2014.

Gloria, a year one senior secondary school student, lives with her married brother unaware that she was about to become a mother. But buried deeply in the girl’s heart was a painful secret she had never told a soul.

With threats, pleading and persuasion, Gloria’s brother, Obi, tried to get the truth about who was responsible out of Gloria, but the little girl was too afraid to tell the truth.

According to Saturday Punch ,a neighbour, who had been friends with the family for some years, eventually got the girl to tell the truth, which shocked the girl’s brother.

Timid and innocent, she looked at the floor as she spoke softly, delving into the account of a sexual abuse she had gone through in the last five years.

When Gloria’s brother brought her to Lagos seven years ago from their village in Abakaliki, Ebonyi State, it was to give her a semblance of a better life, different from the pathetic one she was said to be living in. Their mother had just died at the time, while their aged father back in the village was not doing too well financially.

“She was living with me along with some of my friends at the time. Things were still rough for me and I was single.” Obi said.

Not long after this, Obi’s good friend from Anambra State, a trader living in Mangoro area of Lagos named Ugochukwu Okparanta, said he would take over the care of the girl to ease the financial burden off his friend while the girl would help his wife with house chores.

“I was nine when I started living with Uncle (Okparanta). But two years after I got there, he started raping me,” Gloria began. “He started one day when I was washing plates and he started to touch me in the private part and breast.”

The girl became tearful. Her voice shook and trailed off. But our correspondent assured her that she was not going to be in trouble of any kind by telling her story. Then she continued.

“He started by petting me, telling me I would like it. I refused and became afraid. Then he threatened me. He would tell me that I would be in trouble if I did not do what he wanted,” Gloria said.

Asked why she could not report the problem to her brother, the girl said she thought nobody would believe her.

“If I told Madam (Okparanta’s wife), she would say I lied against her husband,” 

Gloria explained. Then came one night, while her boss’ wife slept in the couple’s room, Okparanta sneaked out to the room Gloria shared with his own daughter, an older girl.

She said,

 “He told me to follow him to the sitting room. I obeyed. He raped me and while he did it, I was about to scream, but he covered my mouth with his hand very tightly. I was bleeding when he finished and I became more scared but he smiled and said the blood was normal.

“After that, he would rape me almost every night. Madam did not know anything. Anytime I refused, Uncle would threaten to deal with me. There was a day I refused and when I greeted him the following day, he did not answer me.

“He reported me to his wife that I had become pompous in his house and that I no longer greeted him.”

 This sexual abuse would continue for four years, according to the girl, until 2013 when his brother got married and brought her back to help around the house.However, in January 2014, the sexual abuse the girl had kept secret and thought was over would come back to haunt her.

“His wife had just had a miscarriage and I was sent to go and help her for a few days. But in the afternoon, when his children had gone to school, he dragged me to his children’s room and raped me,” Gloria said.

Few days before that day, our correspondent learnt that Gloria’s brother had even gone to his ‘magnanimous’ friend, bearing a bottle of wine, to thank him for taking care of his sister over the years.

“I did not know in my wildest dream that the man I see as my friend would do such a terrible thing to my sister,” he said.

Nobody knew what damage had been done until September 2014 when the symptoms of pregnancy started to manifest in the girl’s body.

“She is one of those people who could be pregnant and her flat tummy would not make anyone suspicious. I thought that if she was pregnant, it would be in early stages and could be aborted. I had no idea that she would deliver in a few days,” the neighbour told our correspondent.

The day Gloria gave birth, the girl who knew nothing about motherhood was in labour for hours in her room and thought she was having a stomach ache.She only screamed when her water broke, it was learnt. But she had a crisis-free delivery and gave birth to a healthy baby boy.

“I have never had sex with any other boy before. I can swear on my life,” 

 When Gloria’s angry brother and other relations confronted Okparanta with the rape allegation, he denied initially.

“He later admitted that he slept with her only once,” Obi said

 When Saturday PUNCH spoke with Okparanta on the phone, he initially went from feigning ignorance to outright denial.But when he was asked why he sent a cheque of N50,000, to the girl’s brother, he hesitated a little and admitted he raped the girl once.

“It is a lie that I started sleeping with her since she was 11. Even last year, I did not sleep with her,” Yes, I gave her brother a cheque because they were accusing me that I was responsible,” “I only slept with her once in January and she was not a virgin at the time. That was the last time I did it. I was not the first person to sleep with her. I am not the one that deflowered her.I was sleeping in the sitting room at the time. I just felt someone touching me. I just did not know how I slept with her after that. I hated her since then.”“I did not know what came over me that made me sleep with her. I told his brother after the incident that he should take her to a church for deliverance.”

But did he think he could be responsible since he has admitted sleeping with the girl?He said,

No, I did not. I just hated the girl and felt she should not have made me to do such a bad thing. I am currently discussing with the family to see how we can take care of the baby if indeed I am responsible.”