ECOBANK NETWORKING RECEPTION IN LAGOS

Pls click on http://www.gistmaster.com/ to find photos and details of the networking event sponsored by Ecobank last Wednesday at Eko Hotel and Suites.
Thank You!

LINDA AND I:THE FRIEND IN US

I am very grateful to those who intervened concerning yesterday’s issue between Linda and I If you think I over reacted, I am deeply sorry. Trust me; I am not that kind of person. Those who know will tell you that I love enjoying myself and having a good laugh everyday! I play so much (sometimes I wondered what Tee saw in me) because I don’t get bothered about things.

Linda called me last night, she apologized and we settled. I have loads of love for her too. Those who work in the media understand what I am talking about here. Everyday, after a story is published, you get loads of emails, comments, phone calls. Sometimes, they would even call their lawyers to harass you. A lot of people praise you for filing your stories and photos right on time. I HAVE NEVER WRITTEN ABOUT ALL THAT. My reaction yesterday was just an exceptional case.

On a lighter mood, when you write good stories about some celebs, they would pretend they never saw it. Even when some journalists tell them, they will say, “When did you write it? I didn’t see it” However, when it is what they consider a negative story, they will be the first to call you one phone “How dare you write such a thing?” I know some actresses who will call and say “Niyi, thanks! I saw what you wrote about me. It’s good that you people are projecting us well to the outside world. I know some celebs that are just down to earth and humble. They respect what you do and when you didn’t get it right, they call to inform you. At the end, you guys play over it.

EDITORIAL- LINDA IKEJI, OMOWUNMI AKINNIFESI AND DELE FASAN’S CONTROVERSIAL INTERVIEW

I was attending a conference in Lagos, when some people drew my attention to a story written and published on Linda Ikeji’s blog concerning a recent story we published on gistmaster.com .In the story, a young man by name Dele Fasan claimed to be dating Omowunmi Akinnifesi. The fellow also told us that they have marriage plans.

In her first sentence, Linda wrote “It's kinda sad when people see you with a guy, and the next thing you read in the press is that you're dating him”

I am taking time to reply because Linda sort of indicted the Nigerian press as a whole with the sentence, directly or indirectly calling us fiction writers. As a friend and associate for years, I thought Linda should have put a call through or send text message to ask me what actually happened. On his part, Chude Jideonwo, Bellanaija, Omowunmi, Mai and several others have reached me personally on this.

Well, maybe Linda was writing from her own personal experience in the hands of the media. Some years back, Linda and I were at Sheraton for an event and she met Dan Foster. The two of them went to one of the restaurants and got talking for a long time. I was her publicist, yet she told me she was not dating Dan. When some people wrote it in the press, she also denied it. It was not until a lady; one Miss Olunloyo accused Linda of snatching her man that she now came out to say she had been dating Dan for years!!!

I felt very bad because as her publicist, I would keep it as privilege information and would know how to defend her when journalists inquire.

The lady was bitter because she and Dan were planning their wedding and part of the event was already fixed for City Mall before the break up!!!

We have seen cases of many Nigerian so called celebrities denying interviews granted by them few minutes later so it is not new. When Gbenga Obasanjo opened up on a number of things for Saharareporters, he later denied it and also threatened to sue them to court.

Yet, the discerning mind knew that Gbenga was only boasting, he said it all. We knew how much RMD denied his romance with Jumobi Adegbesan and also called reporters unprintable names, only for them to get married.Ini Edo granted Punch Newspaper an interview two months before her wedding. She did not only deny her marriage plans, she insinuated that those writing the story don’t know their right from left!!

About one month before Yoruba star actress, Ronke Ojo got married to her man she denied having anything to do with an auto dealer.Alas! She invited us to her wedding some weeks later.

Back to the story on Omowunmi Akinnifesi.I was on the red carpet at Future Award when Omowunmi and a young man walked on the red carpet. I have never met the guy in my life. So, after taking their photos, I walked up to the guy and asked questions concerning his relationship with Omowunmi and he said have been dating off and on for a year, but now they are ready to settle down for marriage. He was not drunk when he was saying all this neither was I drunk too. He knew what he was saying. I later asked him about his name and what he does for a living. He also gave me his phone number. I even called him on the phone!!!

When Omowunmi was going inside I asked about her marriage plans, she laughed. (Well, she later called me on phone and explained that she was actually carried away by the cameramen on the red carpet. Later, they went inside the hall and I also took their pictures. Though they were not seated beside each other, they were on the same table in front.

After the story was published, Omowunmi called me and insisted that the guy was only an impostor that they only met on the red carpet that day. She also obliged me a phone interview which took quite a while. The story was later published on the gistmaster.com

GOD blesses Omowunmi’s brother. The guy also talked to me on phone and he said corroborated the sister’s story. He was gentlemanly in his approach.We settled the whole thing and all of us agreed that the guy was only being mischievious. I called Dele Fasan the following day and he agreed he told me all i wrote but that he never knew it would go that far.Just imagine,someone talking to press.
Omowunmi had granted series of interviews where she denied the romance-City People, Encomium,Global Excellence had already carried the story. Linda wrote that none of the story is true and that Omowunmi and the guy spoke with Shade Wesley-Etibogun of Encomium. In the first place, Shade and I have a good relationship and she called when she was doing the story. I gave her Dele Fasan's mobile number.
Well,i think the big difference between Linda and I, is that i generate 98 per cent of the total materials on my blog. I go all out to get the interviews or cover the events live. Linda only sit back at in her Surulere home, surf the net or read magazines then re-write. I can tell you for free that she rarely attend up to five events in a year.
I put a lot of energy into into getting my stories and photos. Well, if Linda's attempt is to rubbish us, its all well and good.We have been quoted by all Nigerian newspapers and websites.This is because of the authoritative news and photos.
Perhaps, the reason why a lot of people appreciate what we do here.

FASHION AND STYLE PHOTOS FROM NIGERIA + HAT TRICKS

Thanks for checking on our website www.gistmaster.com
We are working round the clock to do more….!

Thanks for being there. You can check www.gistmaster.com for newly uploaded photos.Ohhh!Dont let me forget to tell you that readers have been commenting on our poll concerning when they prefer having sex. So far, 65.5 per cent voted for Night,10.0 per cent of respondents love to have it in the afternoon while 25.0 per cent voted for morning as the best time to 'do' it.
on the other side, loads of people have also started voting for their musician of the year. You can check it out. For now, its between D'banj and 9ice.

KWEEN DELIVERS BABY BOY IN LONDON

Queen Onokala popularly known as kween is the latest celebrity mother in town.Gistmaster gathered that the artiste was delivered of a bouncing baby boy in a London hospital on Saturday 31 January 2009.

The light complexioned jebele jebele crooner gave birth at about 7 in the morning and the father of the baby is no other person than her fiancé, Dotun Omotoye. Speaking from her London base, kween describe the birth of the new baby an exciting experience to her.

Commenting on her speculations on her marriage earlier scheduled for February 2009, kween debunked rumours that her marriage plans has crashed. "Yes my marriage was earlier scheduled for February but it is a common knowledge that one can not travel with an infant unless he or she is about 2 months old”

“When I return back to Nigeria, hopefully in April I will let everyone know my new plans for the wedding. Also I am looking forward to bouncing back in my career and already my album KWEEN DON COME has been completed and will be released when I return to Nigeria.

ADE BAKARE ANNOUNCES 2009 ENTRIES FOR THE YOUNG DESIGNERS CREATIVE COMPETITION AWARD 2009...ABIMBOLA FASHOLA OTHERS SLATED TO ATTEND

The 2^nd Young Designer’s Creative Competition / Award will be held on the 7 March 2009 at the new Federal Palace Hotel,Victoria Island with the first Lady of Lagos State, Mrs Abimbola Fashola as the Special guest of honour. She also attended the inaugural edition.
The YDCC started in 2006 and was first held in May at the Civic Centre in the presence of the former first Lady of Lagos State, Mrs. Oluremi Tinubu.

It was Founded by Ade Bakare due to constant demand by young designers who wanted to work with him. He also opened a shop in Victoria Island in 2005 to cope with his clients orders, though still based in London, England. The YDCC is a way for him to bring his expertise to the Nigerian fashion industry and also to empower new talent.

Bakare lectures on fashion in England where he trained. He is also involved in fashion workshops and trade fairs
The 1^st event was very successful and attracted almost 500 entries from all over Nigeria. Ten finalists were selected and then showcased their clothes at the event. They were also given cash prices and received lots of publicity in the media.
The event was attended by a lot of high profile people such as Mrs Opral Benson, Mrs Folorunsho Alakija, Mrs Kay Ovia, Grace Egbagbe, Mrs Teju Phillips, Mr Dele Momodu, Mrs Tosin Bakare, Senator Ita Giwa, Mr Bisi Olatilo, Biola Okoya and Mr Akin Ariyo.
The panels of judges included Mrs. Helen Ajayi of my style solutions,Funmi Iyanda,a leading media personality, Remi Osholake popularly known for her clothing line,REMI LAGOS, Ruth Osime the Style Editor of This Day Newspaper group, Mudi,another designer of note,Yahaya, Abubakar Tafawa-balewa,a publisher. Others are Mrs. Aima Lijadu, Mr Taofik Okoya, Mr Bobby Eke and Binta Sukai.
The compere was Mrs. Yemisi Kuti.This year; the prices are a bit higher with the winner also granted a 2 month placement at Ade Bakare Couture.
The 10 finalists will be given cash prizes to make up their designs and the designs will be shown on the day of the show in front of an esteemed audience.

MEET DAN AKINLOLU, NIGERIA'S HIGHFLYING CONTENT EDITOR/WRITER IN SOUTH AFRICA

Dan Akinlolu is a Nigerian born South African base writer and producer; a one time prize winning writer with South African Writers’ Circle (SAWC) and Australia’s BLM. He has contributed and published in literary journals both within and outside Africa including the University of Michigan State’s - The Offbeat (USA), Bruce Cook’s - Author 2008 & 2009 publication (USA) and BLM’s E-zine (Australia); he was the only African commissioned to participate in a fiction anthology, "The Quest: Alliance" with Aim Higher Books, USA.

Dan resides in South Africa where he works for M-Net/MultiChoice Africa, as writer and content editor and he also produces music video/TV projects with his partners on weekends.He has just completed his new novel and a collection of short story for his literary agent, Helen Osbourne.

He told GISTMASTER that he is ready to go all the way in the quest to fufil his vision.At the moment, he is involved in the DAVIDIC project.Check the poster below for more details. He is reacheable via

:dan.akinlolu@multichoice.co.za

If you are in South Africa make plans to be there!