Meet The Whatsapp Boss Everyone Has Been Talking About

Until some days ago, WhatsApp founder Jan Koum and his business partner Brian Acton were relatively unknown outside Silicon Valley tech circles.

Now they are being discussed worldwide as California’s latest billionaires.

The internet is alive with the news that Mr Koum, 37, and Mr Acton, 42, have sold WhatsApp to Facebook for $19bn (£11.4bn).

In fact, before founding WhatsApp, both men were actually turned down for jobs at Facebook.

This is an irony that has not been lost on internet commentators in light of the huge amount the social networking giant is laying out for WhatsApp.

So what do we know about the men behind WhatsApp?

‘Appreciate communication’

Ukrainian Mr Koum emigrated to the US at the age of 16 with his mother, to escape “the political and anti-Semitic environment”, according to Forbes.

His childhood in the Ukraine was a seminal influence on the creation of WhatsApp, according to investor Jim Goetz. The service, with its emphasis on messaging privacy, was influenced by “growing up in a communist country with a secret police”, Mr Goetz said in a blog post.

“Jan’s childhood made him appreciate communication that was not bugged or taped,” Mr Goetz wrote.

When he arrived in the US, Mr Koum and his mother lived on food stamps, Mr Goetz added.

Mr Koum has been shaped by his experiences, and appears to remain true to his roots, reportedly signing the Facebook deal that is set to make him a billionaire on the door of his old benefits office.

Mr Koum met Mr Acton in 1997, and the two became friends while they were both working at Yahoo.

Mr Acton’s background was somewhat different from Mr Koum’s – his adoptive father had attempted a career in golf, and his mother ran an air-freight business, according to Wired UK.

By 2007, both men had become disillusioned with their employer, and had developed an intense antipathy to advertising, a central plank of Yahoo’s business model.

“No-one wakes up excited to see more advertising, no-one goes to sleep thinking about the ads they’ll see tomorrow,” Mr Koum said in a 2012 blog post.

They left Yahoo to unwind and follow other opportunities, leading to Mr Koum setting up WhatsApp in 2009.

Mr Acton joined the company in November of that year after a failed job hunt, which included rejections from both Twitter and Facebook.

But the California-based software engineer took the knockback from Twitter with good humour, tweeting: “Got denied by Twitter HQ. That’s ok. Would have been a long commute.”

And when he also failed to get a job with Facebook, he took it graciously, tweeting: “Facebook turned me down. It was a great opportunity to connect with some fantastic people. Looking forward to life’s next adventure.”

Silicon Valley maverick

Despite WhatsApp’s emphasis on social messaging, Mr Koum has been opposed to much of what makes Silicon Valley tick.

Rather than embracing self-promotion, marketing, an advertising-funded business model and an eye for a fast buck, Mr Koum has gone in the opposite direction.

“Next person to call me an entrepreneur is getting punched in the face by my bodyguard. Seriously,” he tweeted in May 2012..

“People starting companies for a quick sale are a disgrace to the valley,” he said in a later tweet.

Some might say that just five years after starting, 450 million users and 50 employees later, the deal with Facebook would constitute a “quick sale”.

Just don’t call Mr Koum an entrepreneur.

BBC

Nigeria Military Closes State Border With Cameroon

Nigeria's military says it has closed hundreds of miles (kilometers) of its northeastern border with Cameroon to stop Islamic extremists using the country as a haven and launch pad for attacks.

Brig. Gen. Rogers Nicholas of the 23rd Armored Brigade told reporters Saturday he was exercising emergency powers because it is "imperative" to seal the border between Cameroon and Nigeria's Adamawa state against illegal crossings.

He said customs and immigration officials are working with soldiers and police "to ensure that nothing crosses into Nigeria." Large stretches of that porous border are generally left unpatrolled.

The border between Borno state and Cameroon, which Nigerian troops and a jet bomber crossed last month in pursuit of extremists, apparently remains open.

The move will affect hundreds of traders who routinely cross the border.

Source

Jonathan Surrounded By Incompetent, Fraudulent Aides – Sanusi

The suspend governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, has described President Goodluck Jonathan as a man trying to do well but whose efforts are being undermined by incompetent and fraudulent aides.

In an interview with AFP in Lagos yesterday, Sanusi said many of the people advising Jonathan are sycophants who do not speak frankly about the extent of corruption in his government.

He said, “When you sit with President Jonathan himself, he appears a nice simple person who is trying his best to do his best. His greatest failing obviously is that he is surrounded by people who are extremely incompetent, who are extremely fraudulent and whom he trusts,” Sanusi told AFP.

On why he secured a court order against his arrest, Sanusi said, “I thought taking away my passport was the beginning of infringement on my fundamental human rights.”

Regarding the allegations against him, Sanusi explained that he had written to the president when he heard about a report condemning his performance, asking if an explanation was needed, but received no reply.

He argued it would be too simple to describe his removal as payback for his attacks on the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).

“Since 2009 I have been annoying the government… You’ve got people who think I have the wrong friends, people who think maybe I have not distanced myself enough from people who are seen to be opposition figures,” he further stated.

In the short term, he voiced readiness to face any attacks that may be coming from those committed to preserving the status quo, adding: “If I am sacrificed in whatever way, my freedom or my life… if it does lead to better accountability it will be well worth it.

“I think everybody has known that NNPC is rotten. I don’t think it has ever been as bad as this. The so-called kerosene subsidy money in fact pays for private jets…yachts… and expensive property in Beverly Hills and Switzerland,” Sanusi alleged.

Source

Florence Bikundi Arrested In Medicaid Fraud Crackdown

Twenty-five people were charged Thursday with obtaining at least $75 million in fraudulent Medicaid payments from the District of Columbia government, a series of cases that federal prosecutors said added up to the largest health-care fraud in the city’s history.

The alleged schemes, which prosecutors said were similar but not necessarily part of a unified conspiracy, involved bogus claims for home care services, a category of Medicaid claim that has grown dramatically in the city over the past 8 years. The uptick in billings for home care - from $40 million in 2006 to $280 million last year - was part of what tipped off authorities to illegal activity, U.S. Attorney Ronald Machen said.

“We concluded that much of the growth was due to aggressive networks of fraudsters paying kickbacks to beneficiaries to manufacture false claims for nonexistent services,” Machen said, later adding: “Medicaid fraud in the District of Columbia is at epidemic levels.”

Prosecutors say many of the defendants persuaded patients to fake illness or injury so they could bill Medicaid for home care they didn’t receive. Some of those patients received kickbacks, authorities said, although no patients have been charged. Those charged include the owners of home-care firms and nurse staffing agencies, home-care aides and recruiters who signed up patients.

Among those charged was Florence Bikundi, 51, a Cameroonian-American of Bowie, Md., the owner of a home care agency who had lost her nursing license and was barred from participating in Medicaid. Authorities said that by using aliases, she was able to bill the city for $75 million in Medicaid payments.

Machen said it wasn’t clear whether any of those payments went to legitimate home care services, but Bikundi was able to amass significant personal wealth, authorities said. Among the property seized from her were millions of dollars from 46 bank accounts, a 7,300-square-foot home valued at $927,000 and five luxury vehicles.

No attorney was listed in court records for Bikundi, who is in custody, and no one answered a call to her home Thursday afternoon.

Machen said there wasn’t any particular weakness in the district’s Medicaid program that made it vulnerable to bogus claims, and he noted that similar schemes have been perpetrated in other cities, including Detroit and Miami. The investigation is ongoing, and authorities said it was impossible to put a dollar amount on the fraudulent billings, although the indictments not involving Bikundi outlined schemes valued at less than $500,000.

“These numbers could likely grow. This is what we know so far,” Machen said.

A dozen people were charged in five federal indictments that were unsealed Thursday. Thirteen others were charged with fraud in D.C. Superior Court. All but three were in custody Thursday afternoon, authorities said.

Many of those charged are immigrants from Cameroon in west Africa, but authorities did not go into detail about their nationalities.

Source

Fire Burns Father And Baby To Death In Ebute-Metta

Two persons including a one- year old baby and its 45-year old father, Mathew, were Friday morning, consumed by an inferno at Ebute Meta, Lagos.

This incident, which occurred at 4, Nubi Close off Park road, along Apapa Road, Ebute Metta West, was the 20th, the fire services have attended to in one week.

It reportedly started in the wee hours of Friday.

It was learnt that the inferno which razed two flats in a two-storey building, was caused by a lit candle because there was no electricity supply at the time the fire started.

The wife and mother of the deceased persons was said to have been rescued through community efforts, but the neighbours could not rescue the two victims because the fire had escalated.

When contacted, Director State Fire Service, Rasaq Fadipe, confirmed the incident.

He told newsmen that the service was not contacted early but still got there early enough to stop the fire from affecting other flats.

“Yes, we recovered two bodies, a year old baby and a man of about 45 years. We were told their mother\wife was rescued by people in the area who first gathered to put out the fire.

“They did not call us early. If they had called us immediately while still continuing with their efforts, we may have been able to safe those lives.

“The Fire involved the upper floor of a residential two- storey building, consisting of two flats of three bedroom each built on a land of about 60 by 120ft.

“The affected two flats at the upper floor were severely damaged by fire.

“A male adult of about 45 years and a child of about a year old were recovered dead from the inferno,” said Fadipe.

Similarly, fire service personnel at Agege responded to an emergency call at 11, Akinleye Street, Oko Oba, where a man of about 35 years was recovered dead from a well.

The deceased Lawal Ganbo, was said to have been working in the domestic well

University of Ibadan Student, Taiwo Shittu Raped and Killed In Her Home

Parents suffer on their children to help them become achievers in life and to also reap the fruits of their labour. What will now be the fate of the parents of this 27 year old Taiwo Omolara Shittu (pictured above), a 500 Level student of the Department of Aquaculture and Fisheries Management, University of Ibadan, who was attacked and killed on the 19th of February at her sister’s home at Opeyemi Street, Gbagi in Ibadan?

Her sister, who she lived with, returned home from work around 5:30pm on Wednesday to find Taiwo in a pool of her own blood, her pants down to her ankle, and a machete stained with blood on the bed. Taiwo had been attacked with the machete as there was an opening on her head.

A man who cuts grass for her sister has been arrested and is currently being held at Alakia Adenubi police station in Ibadan. The man, said to be in his early 30s, has denied any involvement in the murder but it was the machete he uses to cut grass that was found in the crime scene.

The case has been transferred to the State CID.

BARAWO! Suspended CBN Governor List of Financial Recklessness

It has been alleged that under the erstwhile Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi  the CBN recklessly mismanaged the Agency by;

1. Spent N3.086 Billion on Adverts and Promotions 
2. In 2012, (he bought Central Bank of the Year Awards).
3. He expended N20.202 billion on ‘Legal and Professional Fees’ in 2011. 
4. Lunch for Policemen and Private Guards gulped N1.257 billion in 2012 (So Police in CBN too eat N1Billion food, did they eat a Boeing 747 Plane?) 
5. CBN claimed to have spent N2bn on chartered planes, paid Emirate Airline (that does not operate local flight) N511 Million, Wing Airline (that is not registered anywhere in Nigeria) N425 Million and Associated Airline N1.025bn to distribute currency by ir nationwide, yet Associated Airline does not have a billion turnover in 2011 
6. “Currency Issue Expenses”; N1.158bn, 
7. Sundry Currency Charges; N1.678bn, (whatever that means)
8. Facility Management N7.034bn in 2012 (what facility is CBN managing)
9. Training and Travel Expenses; N9.24bn in 2012 and N7.65bn in 2011
10. Expense on Newspapers, Books and Periodicals (Excluding CBN’s Publications) is N1.678 billion in 2012.
11. CBN claimed to have paid N38.233 billion to the Nigerian Security, Printing and Minting Company Limited in 2011, but NSPMC reported total revenue of N29.37 billion for all its transactions with all clients including the CBN.

If the above allegations are true, then the Kano Emirate Council, which has gone on the offensive, accusing President Goodluck Jonathan of Witch-hunt should go bury their heads in shame. Nigerian Northerners do not like their kit and keen exposed for corruption but dance "kokoma" when a Southerner is jailed for similar offense. 

Corruption is endemic in Nigeria and it is we, the people who can emancipate ourselves from it. Nigerians now see every opportunity in government as a means of getting rich. Yet the BBC is believed to be in the fore-front in labeling this alleged crook as someone with financial integrity.

We are watching.

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