DISGRACE: NFF Top Shots Fight In Abu Dhabi

DISGRACE: NFF Top Shots Fight In Abu Dhabi

DISGRACE: NFF Top Shots Fight In Abu Dhabi

DISGRACE: NFF Top Shots Fight In Abu Dhabi

DISGRACE: NFF Top Shots Fight In Abu Dhabi

Despite the triumph of the Golden Eaglets Friday in Abu Dhabi it was a show of shame and national disgrace as NFF General secretary Barrister Musa and the Federations First Vice President Chief Mike Umeh exchanged blows in public, right inside the stadium. 

Eye witness account has it that problem started brewing early evening when Chief Umeh wondered why members of the League Management Committee were allocated “ better cars” than NFF chieftains. He then and there told a colleague that Musa was incompetent and not fit to handle NFF matters.

On getting to the stadium, Chief Umeh was given a Category 1 ticket and again he complained insisting that every country was given 20 VIP tickets and wondered why he could not have one as NFF Vice President.

At the stadium Chief Umeh boiled over when he saw members of the LMC in the VIP Box and challenged the GS who said he knew nothing about it “Oga two of us are seating here, I don’t know anything about tickets besides I just arrived yesterday “ the General Secretary replied. He was shocked when Chief Umeh said “you are a useless man .

I have to trek five minutes to ease myself in a competition that belongs to us?” That really got Barrister Ahmadu angry and he told him to withdraw the statement. Instead Chief Umeh repeated it and the General Secretary said he was a “ hopeless man”. As they were sitting together they rose to their feet and went for each other’s jugular saying a lot of unprintable things.

The intervention of some board members including Chief Inyama and some Management staff did little to assuage them. It took some time to get Musa to leave the seat for another one. A board member has called for a probe of the incidence when they get back home. “It was shameful to say the least. Chief Umeh did not behave maturely but there is need to find out where all our VIP tickets went to,” he said.

Meanwhile, it was gathered that the NFF is spoiling for a war with the National Sports Commission, NSC over its penchant for sidelining it whenever football matters get to the presidency. An inside NFF source said the federation members were not happy when the NSC failed to provide seat for them during the reception for the Super Eagles after they won the Africa Nations Cup in South Africa.

“The NFF is not ready to be pushed aside when the President hosts the Eaglets in Abuja. This ceremony is an NFF ceremony, so the NSC should not push the NFF aside. In fact the NFF president, Alhaji Aminu Maigari has done well and should be commended. He even deserves a national honour,” the source stressed.

President Goodluck Jonathan is expected to host the victorious Golden Eaglets today in Aso Rock to show the country’s appreciation for their feat at the U-17 World Cup which has brought honour to the country, his Media aide, Dr. Rueben Abati disclosed shortly after the team won the trophy Friday.

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DISGRACE: NFF Top Shots Fight In Abu Dhabi

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Real Wedding: Military tribute, from DIY to dress blues

Real Wedding: Military tribute, from DIY to dress blues 

Tami Melissa Photography LLC

Anthony Parmenter and Melissa Meyers.

The first thing Anthony Parmenter noticed about Melissa Meyers was her beautiful red hair.

The two met in high school when he was a junior and she was a freshman.

“I was intimidated because he was older,” said Melissa, 23, a second lieutenant in the New Jersey Army National Guard. “I was afraid to talk to him. But he didn’t give me a choice! He’s very up-front.”

Tami Melissa Photography LLC

Getting to the altar wasn’t so simple: What seemed like a straightforward story of high school sweethearts turned into a romance that spanned eight years and hundreds of miles.

When Anthony graduated high school, he enlisted in the Marines and went off to boot camp in California and Oklahoma. Melissa remained in their hometown of Egg Harbor Township, N.J., to finish up school. 

“When he was in training and we couldn’t talk, I wrote a letter every single day,” Melissa said. Anthony wrote every day, too.

Tami Melissa Photography LLC

When Anthony finished his service, Melissa decided to attend The Citadel, Military College of South Carolina — 700 miles away from home, and away from Anthony. When Melissa was back for Christmas break during her senior year, Anthony asked the question that had been years in the making.

Tami Melissa Photography LLC

“I put a ring in a box, in a bigger box, in bigger box, into the biggest box which was about 3 feet tall and 2 feet wide,” said Anthony, 25, a sergeant in the New Jersey Marine Corps Reserve. “I made her unwrap every one until she got to the ring.” Then he asked her to marry him.

The two were married on June 15th of this year at the Morris Arboretum of the University of Pennsylvania, with 100 guests in attendance. Melissa wore a cream lace gown to complement Anthony’s dress blue uniform and a retired U.S. Army Chaplain performed the outdoor ceremony. 

Tami Melissa Photography LLC

As members of the military, it was important to them that their special day reflected their service. “It’s bringing an important aspect of your life into a really important day. It’s something you really honor andvalue,” Melissa said.

The reception was a Pinterest-lover's dream: chalkboard signs, hand-written seating cards attached to tiny keys, a cupcake tower, and even custom lapel pins. “I did everything myself,” Melissa said. “I looked on Etsy, Pinterest, some Facebook pages.”

Tami Melissa Photography LLC

Now that they've moved in together, the newlyweds are happy to finally to be back in N.J. — in the same zip code and time zone. 

“My advice for people currently planning their wedding is to have fun," Melissa said. "By the time the day comes, everything will fall into place and everything will be perfect."

Tami Melissa Photography LLC

Tami Melissa Photography LLC

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'How can you beat that typhoon?' Survivors pick through remains of devastated city

Tacloban residents escape killer winds and walls of water as Typhoon Haiyan slams the Philippines.

By Nick Macfie, Jason Szep, Manuel Mogato and Roli Ng, Reuters

TACLOBAN, Philippines - A church spire, its cross hanging loose, looks down on smashed houses, wrecked cars, toppled power lines and snapped trees, as dazed survivors try to count the cost. 

A bare-chested man in white shorts squats and wails. Another attempts the once-normal task of washing dishes in a container in a mangled van, as bodies lie abandoned around him. 

Two days after one of the world's most powerful typhoons slammed into the Philippines, thousands were thought to have died in a single city: Tacloban.

Tacloban is near here where U.S. General Douglas MacArthur's force of 174,000 men landed on October 20, 1944, in one of the biggest allied victories of World War Two. 

Today, men, women and children tread carefully over splintered remains of wooden houses, searching for missing loved ones and belongings. From the air, television footage shows trees pulled from the ground by their roots and ships washed ashore. 

Not one building seems to have escaped damage in the city of 220,000 people, the coastal capital of Leyte province, about 360 miles southeast of Manila. 

Survivors line up, waiting for handouts of rice and water. Some sit and stare, covering their faces with rags to keep out the smell of the dead. 

One woman, eight months pregnant, describes through tears how her 11 family members vanished in the storm, including two daughters. "I can't think right now," she says. "I am overwhelmed." 

At the airport, people wait in mud and water after trekking three hours by foot from Tacloban City, hoping to be evacuated by military aircraft. Roads to and from the city are impassable, littered with debris and fallen trees. "We are trying to get to Cebu or Manila," one distraught tourist says. "I must go out." 

Only 110 people can squeeze on to each flight. The elderly, sick and children are given priority. Two soldiers carry a man who can't walk. 

Jenny Chu, a medical student and local resident, can't recognize her village. "Everything is gone. Our house is like a skeleton and we are running out of food and water. We are looking for food everywhere."

"Even the delivery vans were looted," she adds. "People are walking like zombies looking for food." 

Lieutenant Colonel Fermin Carangan of the Philippine Air Force recalls how he and 41 officers struggled to survive huddled in their airport office as winds that approached 195 miles per hour with gusts of up to 235 mph. 

"Suddenly the sea water and the waves destroyed the walls and I saw my men being swept by waters one by one." Two drowned and five are missing. 

He was swept away from the building and clung to a coconut tree with a seven-year-old boy. 

"In the next five hours we were in the sea buffeted by wind and strong rain. It was so dark you couldn't see anything. I kept on talking to the boy and giving him a pep talk because the boy was telling me he was tired and he wanted to sleep." 

He finally saw land and swam with the boy to a beach strewn with dead bodies. "I think the boy saved my life because I found strength so that he can survive." 

Some expressed anger at the slow pace of rescue efforts but the country's defence chief, Voltaire Gazmin, denies being ill-prepared. 

"How can you beat that typhoon?" he says. "It's the strongest on Earth. We've done everything we can." 

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