When Delane Parnell, 29, was growing up on Detroit's West Side, gang violence was a part of life. His mom decided her sons needed to get out of the neighborhood -- at least in the hours she wasn't home.

The solution for Parnell quickly became an after-school job at a cell-phone store. There, he learned not just the basics of doing business but also "the value of character, honesty, and the idea that you should always put your best foot forward in everything that you do," Parnell tells Kevin Ryan on Inc.'s What I Know podcast.

Turns out, Parnell was pretty good at selling cell phones, having tapped his network of fellow high-schoolers and their families as customers. By age 16, he was using his savings to negotiate buying out other local cell-phone stores. 

And he saw a future in entrepreneurship: Before he was even 21, he was flying out to Silicon Valley to attend a tech conference and networking to bring tech incubators to Detroit.

Ever since working at the store, he knew he wanted to start his own company and be in charge of his own destiny. He recognized potential in the growth of video games, and specifically e-sports -- but also saw a lack of structure in this thing countless students were spending a lot of their time on.

"I became really obsessed with this idea, and still today, I cannot shake it. The way that I thought about it is, e-sports doesn't really have a competition infrastructure, much like other sports," he says. "There could be so much value created."

He pitched investors on the concept. And publishers. And even loosely-organized high-school groups playing video games. "They all laughed me out the door," Parnell says.

He persisted. And in 2017, Parnell founded PlayVS, which would go on to be the system powering much of American high-school e-sports, and which now is valued at more than $400 million.

The Lagos State Police Command has invited all parties involved in the alleged sexual abuse of a 10-year-old primary six pupil of Chrisland Schools located in the Victoria Garden City area of the state, the Vanguard has reported.

The Lagos Police Public Relations Officer, Benjamin Hundeyin, on Tuesday said that all parties involved in the matter have been directed to report to the State Criminal Investigation Department, Panti, today.

Giving an update on the matter, Hundeyin said, “All the parties involved have been invited to the State Criminal Investigation Department Panti today to give a written statement and further questioning will be done.”

The parties involved include the school’s head teacher, G.I. Azike; and the parents of the female pupil who alleged that their daughter was sexually abused during the school’s participation in the World School Games at Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

Though the school management said the female pupil was among 76 pupils that represented the school at the Dubai event, which was held between March 8 and 14, 2022, it said the allegation of rape was false.

Rather, the school said two pupils of the school engaged in what the school described as “sexual misconduct” in a game called ‘Truth or Dare,’ when the act occurred after lights out.

The school authorities subsequently suspended the female student (name withheld) indefinitely, stating that she was “a major actor” in the “immoral act”.

However, the mother of the pupil, in a viral video, claimed that her daughter was drugged and raped by some male students of the school.

The Lagos State Government on Monday had closed all Chrisland Schools in the state, indefinitely, pending the outcome of investigation by security agents.

The Chrisland Schools’ incident was one of the disheartening cases resulting from bullying and molestations in secondary schools of late.

Last November, a 12-year-old boarding student of Dowen College, Lekki, Lagos, Sylvester Oromoni, reportedly died from injuries sustained after he was allegedly bullied and sexually molested by some senior students of the school.

Karen-Happuch Akpagher of Premiere Academy, Lugbe, Abuja, had died of sexual molestation in June 2021 while Don Davies of Deeper Life High School, Uyo, had also narrowly escaped death in December 2020, when his mother raised the alarm of alleged sodomy of her emaciated son.

The Rector, Federal Polytechnic, Ilaro, Ogun State, Arc. Olusegun Aluko, Ph.D has sought the collaborative efforts of community leaders and security agencies in the state to put an end to the recent uprise in armed robbery cases that has enveloped the entire Ilaro township.

Aluko made the declaration on Monday during a stakeholder's meeting with heads of security agencies and community leaders held at the ASUP Hall of the Polytechnic.

Armed robbers in separate operations have reportedly invaded apartments of students of the Federal Polytechnic, Ilaro, Ogun State.

It was gathered that the recent was when the robbers, numbering about eight, attacked off-campus students in areas such as School 2, Temitope and Deuteronomy.

The Rector noted that the rampant robbery incident was a result of poor security arrangements by landlords of the densely populated students areas despite the exorbitant fees charged by the landlords and caretakers.

He said when the first incident broke out, the Polytechnic management visited the affected areas and recruited 15 local vigilantes to support Police in the areas.

He, however, refuted the rape allegation of female students as speculated on social media, saying no student was raped.

The Rector emphasized that investigation by the Polytechnic's fact-finding team revealed that, Point of Sale (POS) operations in the affected areas attracted the robbery attacks, calling for drastic action against their operation in residential areas.

"What is happening in Ilaro recently is a strange thing to us and as a Polytechnic we are highly concerned. We commend the effort of the security agencies at ensuring that our students are safe. We have not been sitting idle on our side. 

"When the first incident happened, we employed 15 vigilantes to complement the effort of the security on the ground.

"We were there on Saturday and observed what happened, as part of the steps taken, we have some hotlines for our students to call when there are issues like this that allow them to give information. But to our surprise, we discovered that 90% of the students don't have the numbers.

"When the issue started gathering momentum, the NANS came to find out what went wrong, every student has the right to protest, but that does not solve the problem. I thank the NANS Chairman in the state for his dogmatic approach to dousing the tension.

"I want to debunk the issue of rape. There were no rape cases. The issue of POS is important we take drastic action in residential areas because they are prone to attack and attract robbers. I want to assure the students, we are on top of the situation."

Some of the CDA Chairmen who spoke at the meeting blamed the robbery incident on the students' night crawling, display of affluence, the use of expensive phones and gadgets, engaging in free fraud practices, otherwise known as yahoo- yahoo, and use of generators for almost 24 hours daily.

According to the Otun Akeweje of Ilaro Yewa, Chief Akeem Okebunmi the students disrespected rules, regulations, and customs of the Polytechnic as well as that of the host community among others.

The outgoing Students Union President of the Polytechnic, Azeez Uthman called on the traditional rulers to tackle the robbery incident in a traditional way.

He advised the management to revert to online classes and send the students home until the situation receive positive intervention.

Meanwhile, the community leaders, in a communique issued at the end of the meeting enjoined all students living in Ilaro to desist from night crawling, warning that any student caught within the hours of 11pm and 4am shall be arrested and handed over to the school management for immediate dismal.

They called on parents to warn their children from flouting their community's laid down rules and regulations.

The state governments have asked the federal government to refrain from deducting from funds accruing to them and all local government councils as liquidation for the alleged $418 million London/Paris Club loan refund-related judgment debts.

The governors stated this in a letter dated April 4 as its response to a November 11, 2021 letter from the minister of finance, budget, and national planning, advertising the commencement of the deduction for the liquidation of the alleged judgment debts.

In March, attorneys-general of the 36 states appealed a judgment that dismissed a suit seeking to restrain the federal government from effecting the planned deduction of $418 million from states’ funds.

The plaintiffs in the suit marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/1313/202 sought to restrain the president and others.

Speaking through the body of attorneys-generals of the federation, the state governments said they were not parties to any suit on the London/Paris Club refund, hence, were not liable to any person or entity in any judgment debt being relied on by the federal government.

According to Channels Television, the document was signed by leaders of the body of attorneys-general of the federation, including Moyosore Onigbanjo (SAN) of Lagos state, interim chairman; and Abdulkarim Abubakar Kana of Nasarawa state, interim secretary, as well as the attorneys-generals of Rivers, Abia, Taraba, Benue, and Zamfara states, for and on behalf of all the state attorneys-generals.

“Their Excellencies have drawn our attention to your letter referenced above, which the various states of the federation received at about the end of March 2022. The letter notifies the states of your intention to commence deduction from allocations due to the states from the Federation Account for the liquidation of the London/Paris Club Loan refund-related judgment debts on behalf of the 36 States of the federation and the 774 local government councils,” the letter reads in part.

“Please note that the states of the federation were not parties to any contract or suits concerning the London/Paris Club refund, from which the said judgment debts arose.

“Consequently, the 36 States of the federation are not liable to any person or entity in any judgment debt.”

It further noted that the deduction of the allocations due to the 36 states of the federation from the Federation Account to liquidate the London/Paris Club Loan refund-related judgment debts is the subject of an appeal filed by the 36 states at the Court of Appeal, Abuja.

“The appeal challenges the Federal High Court’s (per Honourable Justice Inyang Ekwo) judgment delivered on 25th March 2022 between A.G Abia State v. President, Federal Republic of Nigeria & 42 Ors. and, therefore, the issue is sub judice,” the states explain in the letter.

They noted that they have also filed a motion on notice for an order of injunction pending the appeal.

The controversial payment of $418 million to consultants over the Paris Club refund had become a contentious issue between the three tiers of government.

Consultants had claimed the amount as a percentage of the payment of services rendered to the states and local government councils.

The federal government had said its decision to deduct the fund was based on a previous verdict of the court.

The Presidency on Monday took a swipe at the Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, Matthew Kukah, for his continuous criticism of President Muhammadu Buhari and his regime, asking him (Kukah) to consider joining partisan politics and see how far he can go.

The President’s Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, made the Presidency’s position known in a statement titled ‘Kukah’s virus of hate.’

Shehu was reacting to Kukah’s Easter sermon on Sunday in which he knocked Buhari’s regime over security challenges, corruption and disunity being witnessed in the country.

Quoting different biblical passages, the presidential spokesman faulted the bishop, saying “from his pulpit, he devoted his Easter message not to Christ’s death and rebirth so Man might be saved – but to damning the government in the most un-Christian terms.”

While accusing Kukah of neglecting Bible’s teachings, Shehu said Easter should be a time for renewal, and for hope and “not a time for religious leaders to play politics, or politicians to play religion.”

He added, “Nigeria knows too well Kukah’s views of the government. He has made quite clear how much he dislikes them from the day they were elected.

“Whether expressing his political views is a good use or an abuse of religious office is for others to decide. But the people of Nigeria have spoken – twice: they support this government at the ballot box. They have not been swayed by hateful talk from any bully-pulpit.

“We respectfully ask Kukah to leave government to the voters and the politicians they elect, while he concentrates on his job, as it is expressed in James 1:27: ‘Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.’

“Or else, he should put away his clerical garb, join partisan politics and see how far he can go.”

PRESS RELEASE

Our attention has been drawn to a story making the rounds that the Caliphate-controlled Disguised Military Dictatorship, otherwise known as DMD, in Abuja is planning a population Census in April 2023. The story, which should simply die as an April fool joke,  is said to be approved by the Council of State.

The Yoruba Global Alliance, a foremost Self-Determination Organization spread across the Globe condemns unequivocally this invidious and obviously self-serving political miscalculation and mis-adventure.

It is inconceivable that any serious-minded government should ever consider human population enumeration amidst an atmosphere of unprecedented insecurity, mistrust, unbridled corruption, and pervasive economic woes. It would be like a similar exercise conducted in 1974 which the subsequent Murtala Muhammed Military junta immediately jettisoned on assumption of office in 1975.

What on earth could be the rationale for seeking to do a national headcount at this point in time, especially amidst rumours and permutations that the Unitary government in Abuja may have other tricks up its sleeves regarding holding national elections slated for April next year?

The programmed Census is a mischief towards a predetermined end of imposing false demographics on Nigeria to the advantage of the Fulani hegemony. Nigerians cannot be deceived any longer.

Human population Census requires meticulous planning, including but not limited to cartographic capturing, enumeration of houses and other dwelling places, comprehensive physical counting of human heads all over the country and, of course, a huge man-power outlay.

In a situation where guardians and parents have stopped allowing their children and wards to proceed to mandatory Youths Service Corps outside their immediate environment, and hundreds of thousands have fled their homesteads because of pampered marauding human butchers euphemistically tagged bandits, where will the government import enumerators from?

We should admit the obvious fact that Nigeria is at war with itself. Census exercises are never conducted in a war situation.

More than 4 million Nigerians are scattered in Internally Displaced Persons camps all over the country most especially in the far Northern states of the country and Niger state. Who is going to count people who have been sentenced to humongous suffering by their own people in a country where suspicious terrorism holds sway?

There can only be one reason for this unreasonable scheming: come up with terribly skewed census figures and plunge the uneasy country to further confusion, infighting, insurrection and catastrophic implosion and ultimately full-blown Civil War.

We call on well-meaning Nigerians most especially respectable elders who knew Nigeria when it enjoyed a good measure of civilization and civility, to urge President Muhammadu Buhari to halt this unwarranted assault. We equally urge the National Assembly, the rubber stamp entity and submissive ‘wife’ of the Executive Council to deploy whatever balls they have to stop this open invitation to anarchy. They should remember that posterity will reward them for their complicity should they fail to do the proper thing which is to stop this charade.

Student Organizations, Nigeria Bar Association, the entire Media Outlets, Labour and Trade Organizations and the entire Civil Society Platforms must rise up in unison to out-rightly condemn and reject this odious and obnoxious fraudulent scheming.

Finally, we warn those who are the puppeteers, the faceless advisers and mis-advisers to keep off and stop leading the government to a certain ruinous end.

Before the final breakup of the Lugard Contraption, which is certain to happen, and Indigenous nationalities go their separate ways as Sovereign nations, we urge this deadly Government to let our dehumanized suffering women,  hapless children and millions of unemployed youths breathe!

Signed

Amos Akingba  [President]

Tola Adeniyi [Chairman of Council]

Work for someone else, and your success (at least your professional success) is in large part outside your control. You can control how hard you work, how dedicated you are, how loyal you are... but you can't promote yourself. And you definitely can't give yourself a raise.

That's just one reason why entrepreneurs become entrepreneurs. They embrace the opportunities -- and the risks -- inherent in "choosing" themselves. They embrace an "If it is to be, it's up to me" mindset.

Which is great.

Until it's not.

According to Steve Jobs, independence and self-reliance often get in the way of success. As Jobs said:

I called up Bill Hewlett when I was 12 years old. "Hi, I'm Steve Jobs. I'm 12 years old. I'm a student in high school. I want to build a frequency counter, and I was wondering if you have any spare parts I could have." He laughed, and he gave me the spare parts, and he gave me a job that summer at Hewlett-Packard... and I was in heaven. 

I've never found anyone who said no or hung up the phone when I called. I just asked. 

Most people never pick up the phone and call. Most people never ask, and that's what separates, sometimes, the people who do things from the people who just dream about them.

To Jobs, "Do I ask for help?" was a question that predicted an individual's success.

Take the first iPhone. An early prototype's hard-coated plastic screen wasn't hard enough: After Jobs spent a day carrying it around in his pocket, he noticed the screen was already scratched.

Jobs could have gone the self-reliant route. He could have tried to fix the problem himself using Apple's considerable resources. Instead, he called Wendell Weeks, the CEO of Corning Glass, and described the type of glass he needed.

After a little back and forth -- and a few cleverly effective words of persuasion that you should definitely borrow -- Weeks agreed to help by providing gorilla glass, a product the company had developed in the 1960s but never put into production.

And here's the kicker. When Jobs biographer Walter Isaacson walked into Weeks's office years later, only one memento was on display.

A letter from Jobs that said, "We couldn't have done it without you."

That's the thing about asking for help.

Sure, admitting you need help can make you feel weak, or vulnerable, or somehow "less than" in the eyes of the other person.

But that's not what happens. When you ask for help -- in the right way -- other people don't think about you. They think about how your request implicitly shows you respect them. Implicitly shows you trust them. Shows you value or admire the skills, talents, experiences, or resources they clearly worked hard to obtain.

And gives them the opportunity to make a difference, however small, in someone else's life. Judging by the framed letter on his wall, Weeks was clearly proud to have made that difference for Jobs.

Which is the ultimate reason asking for help can predict success.

Since no one does anything worthwhile on their own, asking for help might just be the first step towards creating long-term, mutually-beneficial relationships that build a foundation for lasting success.

And lasting friendships.

An element that should be included in everyone's definition of "success."

There was a mild drama on Monday at Idi-Ori area of Abeokuta, in Abeokuta North local government of Ogun State when a suspected kidnapper was identified by a victim that paid him a ransom after his abduction.

Vanguard reports, the kidnapper luckily escaped being killed after he was apprehended by an angry mob .

The suspect was reportedly walking around the area when he was recognised by one of his victims.

It was gathered that the victim, who raised the alarm , insisted that the suspect had received ransom from him and others in the area.

An eyewitness, who simply identified herself as Olubukola, said, that irate youths at Idi-Ori, descended on the young man and beat him blue and black.

She said “They tied his hands and legs.

They beat him and gave him a ‘bloody nose’. He might have been lynched if not for the quick arrival of policemen from Lafenwa division in Abeokuta.

“At first, the irate youths did not want to release him to the police. They said they didn’t trust the police. Their fear was that he might be released on bail. They insisted that they’re very sure he was a kidnapper.”

When contacted, the Ogun State Police Public Relations Officer, Abimbola Oyeyemi, confirmed the incident.

He said, the man remains a suspect as investigation is still ongoing about the allegations levelled against him.

He condemned the attempt to lynch the suspect, saying the law does not permit anybody to take part in jungle justice.

According to Oyeyemi, if the man is a kidnapper as being said, police investigation would unravel his accomplices, saying he could not have been the only one in act.

“I am aware of the incident. The man is still a suspect until investigation is concluded. That is why it is not good for people to be taking laws into their hands. You cannot just carry somebody and make attempts to kill the person. They should let us investigate his culpability.

“And even if we are able to find out that he is a kidnapper, he cannot be alone. Our investigation will lead us to the arrest of others. So that in that axis, the syndicate will be dismantled once and for all. People should stop taking laws into their hands,” Oyeyemi said.

The Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria on Monday described as offensive and provocative, an Easter advert by Sterling Bank Plc comparing the resurrection of Christ with the rising of Agege Bread in a Vanguard report.

APCON also said the advert copy was not submitted for approval before it was made public.

In a statement on Monday signed by its Registrar and Chief Executive, Olalekan Fadolapo, APCON said the advert was distasteful, noting that Sterling Bank Plc would be punished for the action.

The bank, in the now-deleted social media post over the weekend, had attracted criticisms as the same copy was sent to the email of the bank’s customers.

The copy showed a puffed, golden brown, halved Agege Bread with the caption, ‘Like Agege Bread, He Rose… Happy Easter’.

Many social media users had lambasted Sterling Bank Plc over the denigratory comparison and the bank had deleted the posts on its social media handles amid the swelling outrage, mostly by Christians.

The bank subsequently uploaded another copy of an opened tomb significant of Christ’s departure from the grave and added the caption, ‘…let the one who has never sinned throw the first stone.’

Reacting, however, in its statement, APCON condemned the action of the bank which it said was blasphemous.

The statement was titled, ‘Sterling Bank Agege Bread Easter Advertisement’

It read, “The Advertising Practitioners Council of Nigeria has observed with displeasure the insensitive and provocative Easter celebration advertisement by Sterling Bank Plc which compared the resurrection of Christ with Agege Bread.

“The distasteful advertisement was neither submitted nor approved for exposure by the Advertising Standards Panel, the statutory Panel charged with the responsibility of ensuring that advertisements conform with the prevailing laws of the federation as well as the code of ethics of Advertising in Nigeria.

“APCON will take necessary actions to ensure that Sterling Bank is sanctioned for the exposure of such offensive advertisement according to law and that no religious belief or faith is ridiculed or any blasphemous advertisement exposed in any guise.”

As the story of a ten year old girl, allegedly raped by her fellow students circulates, Lagos state government, Monday warned Nigerians to desist from redistributing and reproducing pornographic materials of children, noting that anyone caught would be liable to fourteen years imprisonment.

“We also use this medium to remind the general public that any person who engages in any visual depiction of sexually explicit conduct involving a child, commits an offence and is liable to custodial sentence of fourteen (14) years. This includes “producing, distributing, receiving, or possessing an image of child pornography”, said Commissioner for Education, Folashade Adefisayo.

Recall that a ten year-old student of Chrisland school was allegedly raped by his fellow students when they travelled to Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

Miffed with the incident, the mother of the victim appealed to Nigerians to assists her get justice for her daughter.

She accused the school of negligence and poor communication.  In a video clip shared by Ubi Frankin, Nigeria Music Executive, the mother of the girl accused Mrs Azike, the head teacher, of threatening her daughter, saying that her daughter (name witheld) told her that  Mrs Azike warned her never to speak to anyone about the incident.

Reacting to the story, Lagos State Government has ordered the immediate closure of all Chrisland Schools within the state pending further investigations into alleged sexual assault.

Below is the statement:

“The attention of the Lagos State Government has been drawn to the alleged sexual violence case involving students of Chrisland Schools which occurred in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

“It is pertinent to note that all allegations are being investigated by the relevant Ministries, Departments and Agencies, including Ministry of Education, Office of Education Quality Assurance, Ministry of Youth and Social Development, Ministry of Justice and the Lagos State

“Domestic and Sexual Violence Agency, whilst the criminal allegations have been escalated to the Commissioner of Police.

“In view of the allegations, we are committed to ensuring that adequate medical and pscyho social support is provided.

“This is to reassure members of the public of the State Government’s commitment to safety and child protection, especially in ensuring that all child-centered institutions within the state, formulate and implement policies and systems that are compliant with the Executive Order (NO.EO/AA08 of 2016), Lagos State Safeguarding and Child Protection Program.

“We also use this medium to remind the general public that any person who engages in any visual depiction of sexually explicit conduct involving a child, commits an offence and is liable to custodial sentence of fourteen (14) years. This includes “producing, distributing, receiving, or possessing an image of child pornography”.

“Meantime, all Chrisland Schools within Lagos State are hereby closed, pending further investigations.”