Nationwide — Former First Lady Michelle Obama revealed why she chose not to wear braids during her years in the White House and how embracing her natural hair today represents freedom, confidence, and self-expression. Nearly ten years after leaving Washington, Obama is reflecting on her personal growth in her new book, The Look, coming out on November 4. The coffee table book highlights her evolving relationship with fashion, beauty, and identity through photos and stories from different stages of her life. Now 61, Obama says she finally feels free to make choices solely for herself. “This is the first time in my life when every decision I make is for me,” she told People. One of those choices includes returning to her favorite childhood hairstyle — braids. “It’s freedom,” she said. Braids let her swim, play tennis, and enjoy life without worrying about her hair. Growing up on Chicago’s South Side, she saw protective styles like braids as both practical and empowering. In The Look, she revisits those early experiences through personal photos and memories. But during her time as First Lady, Obama admits she avoided wearing braids in public. “I wasn’t sure whether the country was ready for it,” she explained. The CROWN Act, which protects against hair-based discrimination, hadn’t been passed yet, and she didn’t want her hairstyle to overshadow her role. That mindset shifted in 2022 when she wore braids to the official unveiling of her and Barack Obama’s portraits. “I wanted to send a message,” she said. “This too is an appropriate and beautiful way to wear your hair.” Her hairstylists, Yene Damtew and Njeri Radway, share that sentiment. Damtew said Obama’s choice to embrace her natural look celebrates identity and self-love. Radway, who has braided her hair for years, called it a shared moment of pride. For Obama, that expression is deeply personal. “This is what we understand about our hair, as women of color, that the way our hair naturally grows out of our head, is beautiful,” she said. “And if I want to wear it straight, if I want bangs, if I want braids, if I want them up, if I want to add a little color to it, let that be my business. Nothing is inappropriate.” <

Some recent political trends have raised eyebrows for Nigerians. Both the politicians and their supporters are coming out of the blue about it. While some are of the thought that politician’s defect to other parties is crazy thing to do, but others think it is genius idea. They, say, it is all aimed at grabbing power in 2027. No doubt, the political atmosphere spice up something like that. Although state governors of Delta, Akwa Ibom, Enugu and Nasarawa and their cabinet have defected to the ruling APC, but Bayelsa state governor SDD’ is different. He never made it public the party he’s defecting. This is making the people of the state flabbergasted somehow and seems crazy. Since the creation of the state in 1996, no governor has resigned to another party. Under rain or shine, they remain in the PDP though defection is allowed by the country’s 1999 constitution. It’s crazy because they don’t know where he’s defecting after they supported him so far, he came to power. They love and embraced him particularly for his developmental strides so for him to defect is a blow to them. They are thinking whether he could still fulfil his lofty political promises now that he has resigned and maybe later defects to another party. However, some think differently. His resignation from PDP is welcome and smart idea. According to this school of thought, Bayelsa state being one of top oil producing states in the country is only partially benefiting from its revenue resources from the Federal Government – the center government- as others who don’t produce the golden egg, the mainstay of the nation’s wealth. They believe that stepping aside the PDP would give Bayelsa opportunity to attract more rapid development at both rural and urban environments. This group view that belonging to center is better than staying outside the party that rules the nation. But the multi-dollar question being asked if the PDP never control power in the center? President OBJ, Yar’dua and Jona were there. Did anything spectacular change in Bayelsa than Lagos or Abuja? The bottom line still hinges on the gist that the drama of grabbing power in 2027 general elections. All of them -defecting or not- wants to make their relevance base on political appointments or representation to belong. One would not cow the electorates to believe them. They run to them always when it is for election, they are not consulted when crucial decision is taken. Fact is that politicians are not be trusted. Bayelsa state seems to be at the cross-road, no governor, cabinet, lawmakers in the House of Assembly are in disarray including local government council elected officers in EKELGA and KOLGA.

Fire has razed down an elderly woman’s shade, name not immediately known, in the Bayelsa state government-owned Ultra-modern Market, Swali, Yenagoa. Reports say property worth thousands of Nigerian naira was destroyed by the fire outbreak. However, no life was lost. Our correspondent said the fire started when a drum of “Kpo fire” collided with a wheelbarrow of roasted beef “suya” occurred as traders in the area ran helter-skelter to put off the fire. According to reports, the fire has burnt down the elderly woman’s shade before it came under control. Sympathetic passersby, however, appealed to the state government to provide a state-of-the-art fire station to avert future fire outbreaks in the market. The woman cried aloud over the loss of her property and appealed to government and philanthropic bodies for help Meanwhile, reports have it that the state government-owned market has turned to rot following the absence of renovation decades ago. By Joetex Warisuo

A care-taker committee has been inaugurated for the Swali Ultra-Modern Market, Yenagoa, Bayelsa state Those inaugurated are Elder British Amgbari as chairman, Mrs. Fortune Samuel Gwegwe member, Mrs. Slender Lucky member, Mrs. Dora Igolikumo member. Others include Mrs. Ngozi Oneyemara and Mr. George Uyaini as members respectively. Mr. F Borise, who stands in for the state Commissioner of Trade and Investment, Mr. Federal Otokito, said the committee became necessary following rancor among rank and file of the traders union committee tenure expired. The care-taker committee is expected to stay in office for 3-month and handover to a new elected executive committee. The out-going PRO, Comrade Okorie Felix John, however, commended the integrity of the out gone leadership to attain set goals.

Undoubtedly one of Africa’s biggest musical icons, Tiwa Savage is set for her second Ugandan concert on the 29th of July at the Lugogo Cricket Oval. Tiwa, who has often been dubbed the “Beyonce of Africa” announced the event in a video drop, urging all Ugandans to buy tickets asap. As an artist who has managed to permanently top charts for over a decade, Tiwa Savage’s discography is one to reckon with. The diva has taken African airwaves by storm establishing herself as the Queen of Afrobeats over the last 10 years. The Nigerian musician, songwriter, and actress has music that cuts across different generations with chart-topping hits like No Wahala, Koroba, Somebody s Son, Lova Lova, Romantic, Keys to the City, Kele Kele Love, Ma Lo, Eminado, Dis Love, Girlie O, Woju, Diet, All over, Without My Heart and more. Tiwa Savage is currently on her #WAG World Tour, where she has sold out major arenas in USA , Europe and Canada. Some of Uganda’s top divas will join Tiwa in an all female lineup of entertainers themed “Girls Run The World”. The concert will feature Cindy Sanyu, Winnie Nwagi, Vinka, Karole Kasita, Lamu, Sandra Nansambu, DJ Alisha, DJ Zato, Sheila Salta, Miss Deedan and a lot more.

The glamorous lawmaker hails from Odi community, representing Odi constituency 1 in the Bayelsa state House of Assembly. He is a 3rd term running lawmaker in the house. As a Speaker of the house then, he went through tough political engineering, a strategy plotted by PDP political leaders towards the 2019 governorship election of the state as at that time of the serious political hemisphere. The Speaker was said to have reached an agreement with Dickson and other PDP leaders to vacate his office in the event that Senator Douye Diri, who hails from his Kolokuma-Opokuma Local Government Area, emerged the candidate of the PDP for the election. The superlative performance of his governor Henry Seriake Dickson of Bayelsa state and the need to give him a pat on the back in future elections has equally informed his decision to resign. He was eventually removed to give way for the 2019 governorship election. Be that as it may, the exquisite law maker is a fashion freak as his dress for work, trips, and social gatherings in and around the country like ex-governor Timipre Sylva does, now a Federal Minister of state of Petroleum. Hon. Tonye Isenah the lawmaker is admired and merry by all and his peers, very flamboyant to the core. He is a sizzling dresser in both foreign suits and other Nigerian fabric designer clothes. He is also a lover of soccer game as he organizes competitions for youths in his constituency regularly. He speaks English well, well cultured good material for Bayelsa to be emulated anytime, anywhere.

Courtesy Visit on the Vice-Chancellor, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Professor Charles Igwe, by the Governing Council of the Federal College of Education, Eha-Amufu, Enugu State. 08.09.2021

Wife of Ghana’s only Angel Daniel Obinim, Florence Obinim has broken her silence over the tone of her skin which has come under immense scrutiny in recent times. According to her, poverty made her darker but now, with the blessings of God, she is able to buy good body cream hence the change in the tone of her skin. “Someone has a chocolate colour but because she’s not financially sound, she cannot buy good cream to make the skin glow, now she has money to buy good creams to make her skin glow why should that be a problem?” Florence Obinim wants the people of Ghana to stop being negative about the change in her looks because it’s simply the blessings of God manifesting after several years of enduring poverty. To her, she will continue to enjoy herself on earth and will certainly end up in heaven to enjoy herself there to so her critics should always think about their salvation and not her lifestyle here on earth.

The Iron Lady was a suprising advocate for green issues in the late 1980s Boris Johnson sparked fury earlier this week when he refused to apologise for comments making light of Margaret Thatcher’s closure of coal mines and crediting the former prime minister with giving the UK “a big early start” in moving away from fossil fuels. The off-the-cuff remarks were described as “deeply offensive” to mining communities but what did Mr Johnson’s predecessor have to say about climate change? Margaret Thatcher may not be widely known for her brief pro-environmental period in the late 1980s but the former prime minister did draw international attention to the “insidious danger” posed by climate change. In the late 1980s she used her platform as a world leader to draw attention acid rain, pollution and dramatic changes in weather patterns around the world. During a speech to The Royal Society in September 1988, Mrs Thatcher said: “For generations, we have assumed that the efforts of mankind would leave the fundamental equilibrium of the world’s systems and atmosphere stable. “But it is possible that with all these enormous changes (population, agricultural, use of fossil fuels) concentrated into such a short period of time, we have unwittingly begun a massive experiment with the system of this planet itself.” She said she believed money spent on “cleansing” polluted areas such as the Mersey Basin to “be money well and necessarily spent” and that “protecting” the balance of nature to be “of the great challenges of the late twentieth century.” A declassified version of the speech, released in 2018, also show in drafts the former prime minister planned to tell the society how “increasingly concerned about the environment of our planet” she was. In the late 1980s she used her platform as a world leader to draw attention acid rain, pollution and dramatic changes in weather patterns around the world. During a speech to The Royal Society in September 1988, Mrs Thatcher said: “For generations, we have assumed that the efforts of mankind would leave the fundamental equilibrium of the world’s systems and atmosphere stable. “But it is possible that with all these enormous changes (population, agricultural, use of fossil fuels) concentrated into such a short period of time, we have unwittingly begun a massive experiment with the system of this planet itself.” She said she believed money spent on “cleansing” polluted areas such as the Mersey Basin to “be money well and necessarily spent” and that “protecting” the balance of nature to be “of the great challenges of the late twentieth century.” A declassified version of the speech, released in 2018, also show in drafts the former prime minister planned to tell the society how “increasingly concerned about the environment of our planet” she was. Mrs Thatcher told the assembly: “It is mankind and his activities which are changing the environment of our planet in damaging and dangerous ways.” She also put forward the idea of “a vast international, co-operative effort” to address the threat and told the group the UK would be “establishing a new centre for the prediction of climate change.” “The problem of global climate change is one that affects us all and action will only be effective if it is taken at the international level. “It is no good squabbling over who is responsible or who should pay,” she said. However, in later years Mrs Thatcher changed her stance on environmental issues withdrawing her previous views. In her 2003 book, Statecraft, she wrote: “The new dogma about climate change has swept through the left-of-centre governing classes.” Mrs Thatcher’s own mixed record on the climate has been followed by her party in recent years. The Conservative party has been criticised for weakening environmental protections and lacking urgency in plans to meet emission targets.