Troops of the Air Task Force (ATF), Operation Hadin Kai, have neutralised another notorious commander of Boko Haram terrorist group, Alhaji Modu, also known as ‘Bem Bem’.
Modu was killed alongside 27 other terrorists in Borno State.
This comes as the Chief of the Air Staff (CAS), Air Marshal Oladayo Amao, charged Nigerian Air Force (NAF) operational Commanders to ‘show no mercy’ and ensure they employ maximum firepower against terrorists posing security threats in the country.
‘Bem Bem’ and his fighters were killed on Wednesday, August 3, 2022 by the military airstrikes on Mandara Mountain in Gwoza local government area of Borno State.
An Intelligence report obtained by Zagazola Makama, a counter-insurgency expert and Security Analyst in the Lake Chad region from top military sources and made available to LEADERSHIP on Sunday, said a battle damage assessment has indicated that the air interdiction had recorded devastating impact as many jihadists were killed while others were severely wounded.
Sources reportedly said the the operation followed credible intelligence reports indicating that the Boko Haram fighters were converging in large numbers with the intention to conduct attacks.
‘Bem Bem’ was a popular drug baron who rose from an armed robber to Boko Haram kingpin.
He took part in the displacement of Bama town in 2014 and the killing of hundreds of people before declaring it as the town as a caliphate.
Algeria, Nigeria and Niger have signed a memorandum of understanding on construction of a vast gas pipeline project offering Europe potential future alternatives to Russian supplies.
The Trans-Saharan Gas Pipeline (TSGP) would transport billions of cubic metres of gas some 4,128 kilometres (2,565 miles) from Nigeria in West Africa, north through Niger and on to Algeria, according to a joint statement released by the three countries on Thursday evening, July 28.
The statement says the gas could be pumped through the Mediterranean undersea Transmed pipeline to Italy, or loaded onto liquefied natural gas tankers for export.
Algerian Energy Minister Mohamed Arkab hosted Timipre Sylva and Mahamane Sani, his counterparts from Nigeria and Niger for talks on the project, Algerian state news agency APS reported.
The long-dormant project created in 2009 has galvanized more interest in recent months as gas prices have surged following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
When the TSGP was first proposed in 2009, the cost of building it was estimated at $10 billion.
As well as serving European markets, gas could be diverted to serve markets along the route of the pipeline or elsewhere in the Sahel region but the TSGP would face formidable logistical and security challenges, passing through thousands of kilometres of desert where jihadist groups have waged a long insurgency.
Algeria is Africa’s largest natural gas exporter. The North African country has already seen increased demand following Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, with Western nations scouring the globe to find supplies to replace oil and gas from Russia.
An actress, Cynthia Okereke, who was recently kidnapped and released, has said her abduction was a mistake, as she was not the target of the kidnappers.
Recall that Okereke and a colleague, Clemson Cornell, were kidnapped in Enugu State, and their kidnappers were said to have demanded a ransom of $100,000.
In an interview with Sunday Scoop, Okereke said, “They told me I was not the one they were looking for. They stated that since they could not get who they originally wanted, they had to take me. It was a coincidence.”
She also stated that contrary to some reports, a ransom was paid before she was released. She said, “It is a lie.”
Asked how much was paid to secure her freedom, the actress said, “That is what I won’t tell you, but a ransom was paid. I don’t want it to go viral but ransom was paid. My husband was the one who took the ransom to Ngwa in Abia State.”
Recounting her experience in the kidnappers’ den, she said, “They did not give me anything. For the first two days I was there, I was not given any food. It was on the third day they gave me milk and a malt drink. Because my stomach was empty, I knew that I would vomit if I took it, so I declined.”
Asked if the kidnappers recognised her as an actress, Okereke said, “When they captured us at Centenary Junction in Enugu, they said, ‘Cynthia Okereke, you think we don’t know you’? So, I asked them what they wanted and pleaded that they should take my car when they shot into the air. They said they did not need the car.”
On how they were transported to the criminal’s lair, the actress said, “We were wrapped with a trampoline and taken to an unknown destination. It was the following morning that one of them asked me if I know where I was. I said I didn’t no, and told me we were in Ebonyi State.”
Recalling some of the things the kidnappers told her while in their camp, she said, “They said Nollywood is not supporting Nnamdi Kanu (founder of the Indigenous People of Biafra), that we should come out en masse to support him. According to them, ‘Kanu is fighting for every one (Igbo people).”
Meanwhile, when Sunday Scoop put a call through to the other kidnapped actor, Clemson Cornel, the person who answered the phone stated that he was receiving treatment in the hospital.
A watch believed to have been owned by Nazi leader, Adolf Hitler has sold at auction for nearly £1million, generating harsh criticism from Jewish leaders.
The gold watch belonging to Hitler was looted from his mountain hideout by a French soldier in the closing moments of the second world war. The watch has a swastika, Nazi eagle and the initials AH written on it, and was bought by an anonymous bidder.
The watch was expected to reach in excess of £3 million but was sold for less than that. The catalogue description for the watch says it was given to the Nazi leader as a birthday present in 1933, the year he became Chancellor of Germany.
The watch was later seized when around 30 French soldiers stormed Hitler’s retreat in the mountains of Bavaria. It was resold and then handed down through the generations.
Other items sold off at the auction included Wehrmacht toilet paper, cutlery and champagne glasses belonging to senior Nazi figures, and items owned by Hitler’s partner, Eva Braun, including a dog collar for her terrier.
An open letter signed by 34 Jewish leaders described the sale of the watch as ‘abhorrent’, urging the Maryland-based auction house, Alexander Historical Auctions, not to sell the wristwatch.
Rabbi Menachem Margolin, chairman of the Brussels-based European Jewish Association, said:
‘This auction, whether unwittingly or not, is doing two things: one, giving succour to those who idealise what the Nazi party stood for.
‘Two: Offering buyers the chance to titillate a guest or loved one with an item belonging to a genocidal murderer and his supporters.’
He added: ‘Whilst it is obvious that the lessons of history need to be learned – and legitimate Nazi artefacts do belong in museums or places of higher learning – the items that you are selling clearly do not.
‘That they are sold to the highest bidder, on the open market is an indictment to our society, one in which the memory, suffering and pain of others is overridden for financial gain.’
The auction house, Alexander Historical Auctions, denied the assertions saying it wanted to preserve the watch’s history.
‘If you destroy history, there is no proof that it happened,’ said Mindy Greenstein, senior vice president at Alexander Historical Auctions.
‘Whether good or bad history, it must be preserved.’
About 12.7 million Nigerians live with Hepatitis B, the World Health Organization has said.
Hepatitis is an inflammation of the liver that is caused by a variety of infectious viruses and non-infectious agents, leading to a range of health problems, some of which can be fatal. There are five main strains of the hepatitis virus, referred to as types A, B, C, D, and E.
In particular, types B and C lead to chronic disease in hundreds of millions of people and, together, are the most common causes of liver cirrhosis, liver cancer, and viral hepatitis-related deaths.
According to the 2021 viral hepatitis scorecard by the World Health Organisation an estimated 998,000 children under five years in Nigeria are chronic carriers of Hepatitis-B antigen while 11,679,000 Nigerians are chronic carriers of viral Hepatitis-B.
The scorecard taken from data from the African region focuses on Hepatitis B and C, both of which cause liver cirrhosis and cancer.
The research discovered that in 19 African countries, more than 8% of the population is infected with Hepatitis B, while in 18 countries, more than 1% of the population lives with Hepatitis C.
The Hepatitis B virus is most commonly transmitted from mother to child during birth and delivery, as well as through contact with blood or other body fluids during sex with an infected partner, unsafe injections, or exposure to sharp instruments.
The scorecard showed that Nigeria has one of the highest numbers of people who are chronic carriers of the deadliest strain of the virus among the listed 47 member states in the African region.
It noted that Nigeria’s prevalence of the anti-hepatitis C virus is at 1.3%.
The report noted that while Nigeria has a national hepatitis treatment programme and a national strategic plan for viral hepatitis, the hepatitis B immunisation coverage is at 58%.
According to the WHO, Africa accounts for roughly 70% of all hepatitis B infections worldwide. It can take decades after infection by the virus before an individual starts manifesting symptoms.
The WHO Regional Director for Africa, Dr. Matshidiso Moeti, said, “Hepatitis has been called the silent epidemic, but this scorecard is sounding an alarm for the region and the world to hear.
“We must do better and stop this disease from stealing away our children’s future. There is a safe and effective vaccine that provides nearly 100% protections against Hepatitis B, one of the virus’s most lethal strains. We must ensure that all African children are vaccinated within 24 hours of their birth and are followed up with two or more doses of the vaccine. “
The South East Revival Group (SERG) has urged the Federal Government of Nigeria to immediately comply with the resolutions of the United Nations, UN, Human Rights Council Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, on the detained leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Mazi Nnamdi Kanu to avert a fresh war front, amid the current insecurity in most parts of the country.
The UN recently indicted both the Nigerian and Kenyan Governments for the extraordinary rendition, torture and continued detention of Kanu without due process.
Consequently, the UN agreed and recommended to the Federal Government to immediately release Kanu unconditionally.
However, in a statement signed by the President and National Coordinator of the SERG, Chief Willy Ezugwu, at the weekend, the group called on the Government to be responsible and reasonable in handling the recommendations of the UN as part of the bitter pills Nigeria must take to reduce armed struggle in the country.
The statement read in part, “For the United Nations to ask the Federal Government to pay adequate compensation for the arbitrary violation of the fundamental human rights of Nnamdi Kanu, it then becomes clear that the world body has found grave infractions in the process of rendition and detention of the IPOB leader.
“The President Muhammadu Buhari administration must be proactive enough to immediately free Mazi Nnamdi Kanu and open a channel for addressing the root causes of the renewed Biafran agitations in the South East in the general interest of peace, security and national integration.
“The Federal Government must learn lessons from the unfortunate but avoidable insurgency in the North East, which has spread to other parts of the country and escalated as a result of the arbitrary killing of the Boko Haram founder, Mohammed Yusuf.
“We, therefore, call on President Muhammadu Buhari to immediately order the unconditional release of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu and open a channel for dialogue with aggrieved citizens, not only in the South East but across the country, in order to find lasting peace in the country.
“This has become expedient as the Nigerian security forces will eventually be overwhelmed if avoidable war fronts are opened in all parts of the country, which will be inimical to national peace and development.”
The Presiding Bishop of Living Faith Church Worldwide, popularly called Winners Chapel, Bishop David Oyedepo has stated that obedience is better than sacrifice.
Naija News reports that is as his wife, Faith Oyedepo, urged winners to be obedient in the affairs of the Kingdom (of God).
The Christian couple gave the charge while speaking at the Winners Chapel monthly leadership conference.
This online newspaper reports that many have interpreted those words as a subtle endorsement of the presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi, for the 2023 presidential election.
Obi’s supporters, who are most youths and social media active, have been campaigning under the alias ‘Obi-dients’.
Recall that Peter Obi had recently paid a visit to the Living Faith Church, where he met the Oyedepos and took photos that later became viral.
Speaking at the leadership conference, Bishop Oyedepo, while unravelling the mystery of the covenant of obedience, said: “To be obedient is better than sacrifice. Obedience may be costly but the end result is always priceless.
“When you live your life as a seed, its impact lives for generations after you.”
On her part, Oyedepo’s wife stated the need for Christians to be obedient to spiritual instructions to enjoy the good of the land.
She said: “If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land: But if ye refuse and rebel, ye shall be devoured with the sword: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it” (Isa. 1:19-20).
Mrs Oyedepo also urged the church to pray for God’s Spirit to serve and be obedient.
The US has urged its citizens to be vigilant against possible anti-American murder attacks abroad following the killing of al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri.
Zawahiri was killed by a US drone in the Afghan capital, Kabul, on Sunday, July 31, following months of surveillance by the CIA.
His death could prompt al-Qaeda supporters or other linked terror groups to target US facilities and personnel, according to the state department.
Zawahiri had helped mastermind the 9/11 attacks on the US in which nearly 3,000 people lost their lives.
The 71-year-old Egyptian doctor took over al-Qaeda after the death of Osama Bin Laden in 2011. He also helped mastermind terror attacks
The killing was confirmed on Monday by US President Joe Biden, who said Zawahiri had carved “a trail of murder and violence” against American citizens.
“The Department of State believes there is a higher potential for anti-American violence given the death of Ayman al-Zawahiri on 31 July 2022,” the department said in a worldwide caution update on Wednesday, August 3.
“Current information suggests that terrorist organisations continue to plan terrorist attacks against US interests in multiple regions across the globe,” it added.
“These attacks may employ a wide variety of tactics including suicide operations, assassinations, kidnappings, hijackings and bombings.”
US citizens are strongly encouraged to maintain a “high level of vigilance and practice good situational awareness” when travelling abroad, the alert added.
A trans-border drug dealer, Pastor Anietie Okon Effiong has been arrested by operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, with three drums of crystal methamphetamine, locally called Mkpuru Mmiri, believed to have been imported from India.
Director, Media & Advocacy, Femi Babafemi, in a statement on Sunday, August 7, said the the consignment weighing 90 kilograms and loaded into a commercial bus with registration number RSH 691XC at Ojuelegba in Lagos was intercepted during a stop and search operation along Umuahia – Ikot Ekpene highway on Saturday 6th August 2022.
The dangerous drug packed 30kg in each drum was meant for Pastor Anietie Okon Effiong, who was arrested in a follow up operation at Oron beach in Oron. The recovered Meth drums were meant for onward delivery to the Republic of Cameroon.
This comes on the heels of four seizures of the same illicit substance weighing 4.074kg going to Australia, Indonesia and Philippines with a 3kg cannabis sativa heading to Dubai, United Arab Emirates at some courier companies in Lagos. The consignments were concealed in body cream, hot burner iron and beads.
Meanwhile, in Sokoto, a 90-year-old retired soldier, Usman Adamu was arrested on Wednesday 3rd August in Mailalle, Sabon Birni LGA for supplying bandits illicit drugs. At the time of his arrest, the suspect was caught with 5.1kg cannabis sativa.
At the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, a 37-year-old indigene of Ovia LGA, Edo State and resident in Italy; Solo Osamede has been arrested for ingesting 41 wraps of heroin. He was nabbed and taken into custody for excretion while attempting to board a Turkish Airline flight to Milan, Italy via Istanbul, Turkey on Saturday 30th July. The swallowed wraps of the illicit drug were recovered in four excretions, which the suspect completed on Monday 1st Aug.
In the same vein, a female passenger Jatau Lydia Lami was arrested at the Lagos airport for attempting to export 1,700 tablets of Tramadol 225mg concealed in her luggage to Istanbul, Turkey via a Turkish Airline flight on Sunday 31st July.
Preliminary investigation revealed that the suspect, a mother of three, hails from Zango Kataf LGA, Kaduna State and lives in Istanbul, Turkey with her family. She blamed her action on pressure to raise N5million ransom to free her mother from the captivity of bandits who kidnapped her since June.
Also at the SAHCO export shed of the airport, attempts by some freight agents to export two consignments of cannabis in a consolidated cargo to Dubai, UAE on Thursday 4th Aug were thwarted by NDLEA operatives who have arrested two of them in follow up operations. They are: Oladipupo Oladapo Fatai and Animashaun Qudus, while two others are still at large.
In Zamfara, NDLEA operatives on Thursday 4th Aug intercepted a truck from Benin, Edo state enroute Sokoto with 50,000 tablets of Diazepam owned by a drug dealer, Umaru Attahiru, while in Kogi, 14 sacks containing 1,376 bottles of codeine based syrup weighing 190.4kg were seized along Okene-Abuja highway on Wednesday 3rd Aug. The exhibits were found in a delivery bus coming from Onitsha, Anambra and heading to Abuja. Follow up operation in Abuja same day led to the arrest of Jude Ikenna and Ozoemene Cornelius.
In Kaduna, four suspects: Sulaiman Rabi’u; Sanusi Sha’aibu; Ma’aruf Habibu and Christian Nnachor, were arrested in Zaria, Tafa and Romi Kaduna with 106, 770 tablets of Tramadol 225mg, Diazepam, Exol-5 and 100 bottles of codeine cough syrup.
In Enugu, 143.5kg cannabis sativa was recovered from locked up stores in new market area of the state capital on Saturday 6th Aug, while in Delta, a suspect, Ike Okparachi, 42, was arrested at Abraka Junction, Asaba with 10,550 tablets of Tramadol 225mg; Swinol; Rohypnol; and 3,105 bottles of codeine syrup as well as 69grams of Molly.
Chairman of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Retd) commended the officers and men of the Akwa Ibom, MMIA, Sokoto, Zamfara, Kogi, Delta, Enugu, and Kaduna Commands of the Agency as well as those of the Directorate of Operation and General Investigation, DOGI for their recent feats.
He charged them and others across the country to remain focused and vigilant.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has explained why it can’t extend the voter registration exercise across the country.
Akwa Ibom State Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) Mike Igini who spoke during an interview on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily on Friday August 5, said extending the voter registration exercise will hamper its preparations for the 2023 general elections.
Igini said;
“Now that we have officially suspended the CVR process, we have to consolidate; aggregate the data and thereafter run the biometric accreditation system to weed out all multiple registrants.
“Thereafter, Section 19 [Electoral Act 2022] says we must do a one-week display of the voter register for the commission to accept claims; objections as it relates to either omitted names or names of individuals that ought not to be on that register as identified by people in the area.
“And how do you do that? You have to produce the preliminary register of voters for this purpose which means they have to be millions of these would-be voters. That will be posted in the entire wards and local governments of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and that is a huge work.”
Also pointing out that the electoral umpire will produce and distribute the Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) to the new registrants, Igini added that Section 17 of the Electoral Act only mandates the Commission to stop voter registration less than and not exactly 90 days to the election.
Aside from this, he said, “it is not only this that INEC will be doing”. Igini stated that Nigerians should rather be concerned about voter turnout in the next election despite the outcry that greeted the suspension of the registration.
“What gives spice to the practice of democracy is mass participation,” the INEC official said. The INEC REC expressed satisfaction with the recent wave of enthusiasm by Nigerians in the electoral process, likening it to what happened in the country in the lead-up to the 1993 poll.
The 2022 Batch ‘B’ Stream 11 corps members in Sokoto State, have gotten the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Muhammad Abubakar’s assurance that the Shari’a Law is not binding on non-Muslims in the state.
Speaking on Thursday August 4 when the NYSC management team in the state led by the state coordinator and some selected corps members paid him a courtesy visit, the Sultan assured the corpers of their safety in spite of the security challenges facing the country.
Abubakar reiterated that they would be allowed to practise the religion of their choice and nobody would be coerced to become a Muslim against his or her wish.
He said;
“In Sokoto, Sharia law is only binding on Muslims, nobody will force you to wear Hijab or force you to obey Islamic laws if you are not a Muslim.
“If you are posted to schools, impact the lives of the students, make them better than you met them.
“If you have a problem at the place of your primary assignment or where you are posted to, contact the district head over there; they are your guardians in the community.’’
Governor Samuel Ortom on Thursday August 4, unveiled Benue state’s security outfit known as Community Volunteer Guards.
In his address during the passing-out of the first batch of the Benue State Community Volunteer Guard at the IBB square in Makurdi, Ortom said that his administration would apply for a license to legally procure AK47, AK49 and other sophisticated weapons for the guards.
Ortom expressed delight that the dream of the home-grown security outfit in Benue State has become a reality.
He said;
“In addition, given the fact that the Federal Government has consistently failed to disarm the terrorists who have continued to maim and kill our people at will, the State Government is going to apply for a license to legally procure AK47, AK49 and other sophisticated weapons for the Benue State Volunteers Guards to enable them to tackle these terrorists effectively.
“To do this effectively, the Benue State Government had approved a two-week capacity building programme for five hundred (500) personnel of the Community Volunteer Guards to learn some basic paramilitary aspects. The training which began on 29th June 2022 with five hundred (500) participants drawn from the 23 Local Government Areas and the three Senatorial Districts ended on 12th July 2022.”
The Benue state Governor also lamented about the rising insecurity across the country. Ortom added;
“It is owing to this failure that the Benue State Government under my watch decided to revisit the Benue State Vigilante Law of 2000, which was enacted to complement the conventional security agencies in the state to address emerging security issues.
“The law had to be amended by this administration to pave way for the Volunteer Guards to assist the conventional Security Agencies to curb insecurity in the state. By the provisions of the new law, the Benue State Community Volunteer Guards can therefore now carry legally approved weapons which we have duly provided.
“A date for Batch 2 would also be announced as soon as possible. As we all witness the passing-out parade of these able-bodied young men, we believe that security will improve in Benue State.
“It is gratifying to note that Benue State Government has procured 30 Operational Vehicles and 200 Communication gadgets to enable the Volunteer Guards to function maximally. The successes we achieve today would not have been possible without the co-operation of other conventional Security Agencies in the State.”
Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has suggested ways in which Nigeria can tackle the security challenges the country is facing.
Osinbajo said Nigeria’s current security challenges require the country’s military and other relevant stakeholders to be several steps ahead of perpetrators while also stepping up local production of armaments.
He said this late Wednesday, August 3, after receiving a presentation on “Defence Transformation and National Security: Strategic Options for Nigeria of the Future”, by the National Defence College Course 30 participants during a virtual interaction.
Osinbajo said: “If you look at the challenges that we are facing and the nature of those challenges, it is evident that we need to be many steps ahead of non-state actors in particular who are perpetrators of this asymmetric warfare that we are experiencing.”
He added that “it is clear that given current realities in our security situation, there is absolutely every need for us to fast-forward all our plans for the future so that we can be much more effective in dealing with the current threats and the threats that we will experience as we go into the future.
“One of the most critical areas is the question of local production of military hardware and I think it is low-hanging fruit when it comes to manufacturing some of the hardware that we will need. I think that there is a need, especially now to really look very closely at local production of our hardware, beginning with armament.
“We mentioned India, Brazil, and even the more developed economies of the world, during the first world war, the second world war, it was these challenges that led to the development of their military-industrial complexes. We have a challenge today, there are so many zones where there are conflicts. Our law enforcement is spread out everywhere.
“If we say the local companies should produce some of the mobile platforms like Armoured Personnel Carriers (APCs) and Multi-Role Armoured Vehicle (MRAV), if we give them the contracts, they will produce, but if we choose to import rather than produce locally then we will never develop our military-industrial complex.”
Osinbajo also spoke about the need for transparency in the management of resources meant for the acquisition of hardware for the defence and security agencies.
He said: “There needs to be more accountability because every time you hear, ‘we do not have enough equipment,’ but there must be accountability. I would like to see a framework for greater accountability within the Ministry of Defence that ensures that they are able to account for military expenditure.”
Chelsea have announced the signing of defender Marc Cucurella from Brighton & Hove Albion.
The Spanish full-back, 24, signed a six-year deal at Stamford Bridge after completing a medical on Thursday afternoon.
Chelsea will pay an initial fee of £55million for Cucurella, plus a potential £7million in bonuses, while Levi Colwill will join the Seagulls on loan in a separate deal.
The Blues announced his arrival via social media and took a playful dig at Brighton after they denied reports that Cucurella was on his way to Stamford Bridge.
Speaking to the club website, the defender detailed his excitement to play for ‘one of the best clubs in the world’.
Cucurella said: ‘I’m really happy. It’s a big opportunity for me to join one of the best clubs in the world and I’m going to work hard to be happy here and help the team.’
The ex-Barcelona player becomes the seventh most expensive defender of all-time, with Harry Maguire still topping the list following his £80million move from Leicester to Manchester United in 2019.
The signing sees Todd Boehly’s summer spending exceed £150million, following the arrivals of Raheem Sterling, Kalidou Koulibaly, Carney Chukwuemeka, and Gabriel Slonina already.
Kim Kardashian and Pete Davidson have reportedly called it a quit on their relationship after 9 months together and decided to just be friends
Pete, 28, and Kim, 41, went public as a couple nine months ago after she made her hosting debut on Saturday Night Live, where he was then a cast member.
Kim and Pete Davidson’s age difference caused them to split earlier this week, sources told Page Six.
“Pete is 28 and Kim is 41 — they are just in very different places at the moment,” the insider says.
“Pete is totally spontaneous and impulsive and wants her to fly to New York, or wherever he is on a moment’s notice,” the source adds. “But Kim has four kids and it isn’t that easy. She needs to focus on the kids.”
The source also told the publication that Kardashian who runs multiple businesses and stars on a reality show was “totally exhausted by this relationship and other things going on in her life.”
The insiders shared that while the pair has “a lot of love and respect for each other,” they found that the long distance dynamic and their demanding schedules “made it really difficult to maintain a relationship.” The split occurred sometime this week.
Pete has been spending part of the summer in Australia working on the movie Wizards!. As for Kim, she continues to raise four kids, North, Psalm, Chicago and Saint, with her ex Kanye West.
“The divorce is moving ahead with Kanye,” another insider shares with E! News. “They are happily co-parenting.”
The pair, who became Instagram official in March and made their red carpet debut in May, have been romantically linked since October 2021.
Kim’s breakup with Pete comes as she is still working out the legal details of her divorce from her third husband and father of her children, Kanye West.
A 25-year-old Nigerian woman, identified as Beauty living in the southern Calabrian city of Catanzaro, Italy has accused her employer of hitting her because she demanded her salary on Tuesday, August 2.
Beauty who works at a beach club and restaurant in Soverato near Catanzaro, reported the assault at a police station in Soverato and backed her report with the video of the alleged aggression she filmed and tendered to the police.
According to InfoMigrants, Beauty was accompanied by her lawyer, Filomena Pedullà, to report the case at the police station. The alleged aggressor has been identified in the Italian press, as the owner of a beach club and restaurant. He is reportedly the son of a retired Carabinieri police officer and does not have a police record.
It was, however, discussed that Carabinieri police are investigating the potential charges of personal injuries, theft and threats after Beauty’s reported aggression, according to Pedullà.
Pedullà said investigators are looking into payment slips.
“Investigators are examining data regarding the contract and the verbal agreement between the two sides. The young woman received a bank transfer of €200 although an agreement had been reached for the payment of €600 euros” Pedullà said
The aggression allegedly occurred after the woman protested because she had not been paid the agreed sum, the lawyer said.
After the employer’s reaction to Beauty’s request for money, Pedullà added, she “suffered a hand injury, proven by a bloody nail, contusions on a shoulder and an injury on her scalp.”
This report is coming exactly a week after an Italian man Filippo Ferlazzo beat a physically-challenged Nigerian man, Alika Ogorchukwu to death on the street of Civitanova Marche.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has threatened to arrest Nigerians hoarding dollars and other foreign currency.
The Chairman of the anti-graft agency, Abdulrasheed Bawa made the threat at a meeting with representatives of Bureau De Change operators in Abuja on Friday, August 5.
This follows the anti-graft agency’s ongoing efforts to check rising cases of foreign exchange speculation, which had brought pressure on the value of the naira.
“The Commission has intelligence linking some persons and organisations to hoarding foreign currencies, especially the United States dollars, in key commercial cities of Kano, Lagos, Port Harcourt, Enugu and Calabar.
We warn those involved to desist or risk arrest as a major offensive against the speculators is underway,” he said.
The EFCC boss warned people who are in the habit of hoarding forex to desist or risk arrest as a major offensive against the speculators was underway.
He noted that the meeting was called to fashion out a collaborative stakeholders’ response to brazen foreign exchange speculation, especially at the parallel market, which was hurting the country’s monetary policy by instigating a decline in the value of the naira.
The anti-graft agency noted that similar meetings are planned for Bureau de Change operators in other major commercial cities across the country, including key players, regulators and operators within the Nigerian financial sector.
Since the beginning of August, the dollar has continued to rise in Nigeria’s black market. Last week, the naira traded at N710 to the dollar in the parallel market. This forced the EFCC to raid some forex markets in Abuja, which saw the currency return to its pre-speculated value.
A few days after security personnel stormed a Bureaux De Change (BDC) hub in Abuja, the naira continued to strengthen on the black-market, moving to N660 per dollar.
Media personality, Denrele Edun has shared his experience with some applicants of Big Brother Naija reality TV show.
Denrele who admitted to being “instrumental” in the show’s proceedings in an interview on Lunch Time with Vanguard, said he got a lot of nudes from people who wanted to go for BBNaija and monetary offers too.
He said;
“I get a lot of nudes from people who want to go for BBNaija. I get all kinds of monetary offers.
“I have gotten N100m, N50m, N30m and I tell people go and do something reasonable with your money.
“So, let’s just say if you don’t have a Denrele in your life that can help you rediscover yourself or help you get to the next level and give you direction to help you navigate your way through life, then what are you looking for? Go and find a Denrele.
“Away from that, yes! I have been instrumental to a lot of these things. It is what it is.
“I’m at the industry’s center of gravity. Let’s just say I know people in the right places, when they ask you, tell them to come and meet me.”
Denrele also recounted how winner of 2011 Big Brother Africa, Karen Igho, spoke about how he helped her to fill her application form.
He added;
“It all started when my good friend, Karen Igho got into the house and was always saying ‘na Denrele help me fill my form’.”
Prosecutors are reportedly asking the federal court to seize about $28K from R Kelly’s prison-inmate account since he has $140,000 in court-ordered fines.
In a letter obtained by the government from the Bureau of Prisons, the singer has “accumulated substantial funds in his inmate trust account,” which is used to purchase food and other necessities from the prison commissary.
According to Bloomberg, Kelly has $28,328.24 in his account as of August 3. The Bureau of Prisons has restrained Kelly’s funds at the government’s request and left the singer with $500.
Federal prosecutors in Brooklyn, NY, have stated that the singer hasn’t paid any of the criminal penalties imposed since being sentenced to 30 years in prison for sex trafficking.
They are asking the judge to put the money into an interest-bearing account “pending a determination as to the amount and applicability of a restitution judgment.”
The singer was sentenced in June to 30 years in prison for sex trafficking by a federal judge in Brooklyn, New York.
Robert Lewandowski has been presented as the new Barcelona No.9 following a €50 million transfer from Bayern Munich.
The Polish striker was introduced to thousands of fans at Nou Camp on Friday morning August 5, wearing the iconic jersey he inherited from Memphis Depay, who is being strongly linked with a move away from Camp Nou.
Good Morning Culers,” Lewandowski began in Catalan, which went down well with the crowd.
“I am very happy to be here, thank you!” he continued.
“I heard that Barcelona wanted to sign me, and that was a sign that maybe now is the perfect timing to go to Barcelona, go to LaLiga. I know that I can still play for a few years on the top high level and that’s why I decided to go to Barcelona. I’m very happy to be part of this team,” Lewandowski remarked.
The forward, who scored 238 Bundesliga goals in 253 games for Bayern, then dazzled the fans with some fancy kick-ups.
Lewandowski, 33, signed a four-year contract with a release clause set at €500 million after departing Bayern Munich for £42.5 million.
Elon Musk has accused the social media platform, Twitter, of fraudulently holding back information about the company as part of a countersuit.
The countersuit by the billionaire and Tesla CEO alleges that Twitter committed fraud, breach of contract, and violation of a securities law in Texas, where Musk lives.
Musk’s counterclaims were filed confidentially last week and unsealed in a filing late Thursday at the Delaware Chancery Court.
Musk offered to buy Twitter earlier this year, then tried to back out of the deal by claiming the social platform was infested with a larger number of “spam bots” and fake accounts than Twitter had disclosed.
Twitter sued to force him to complete the acquisition. Musk responded by filing his countersuit.
Musk’s attorneys argue in the countersuit that Twitter “misrepresentations or omissions” distorted the company’s value and caused Musk to agree in April to buy it at an inflated price. They said Twitter’s own disclosures revealed that it has 65 million fewer “monetizable daily active users,” who can be shown digital ads, than the 238 million that Twitter claims.
The filing also said most of Twitter’s ads are shown only to a sliver of the company’s user base.
Musk’s team also accused Twitter of making too many major changes in recent months without consulting Musk, including personnel decisions and allegedly disobeying social media restrictions imposed by the government of India, which is Twitter’s third largest market. Musk had pledged to make Twitter a haven for free speech but has also said it must comply with the local laws where it operates.
In an unexpected twist, Twitter filed its response denying Musk’s accusations before Musk’s own counterclaims surfaced.
Twitter called Musk’s reasoning “a story, imagined in an effort to escape a merger agreement that Musk no longer found attractive.” The company, in particular, took issue with Musk’s estimate of fake accounts, saying the analysis relied on a “generic web tool” that designated Musk’s own Twitter account as a likely bot.
“The result is a distortion that Musk is hoping will nonetheless make waves,” Twitter’s response said.
The case is scheduled to go to trial on October 17. The Delaware court handles many high-profile disputes between businesses, such as Twitter, that are incorporated there.
Three Sri Lankan athletes have vanished from the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, UK.
The athletes — a wrestler, a judo star and a judo coach — have not been seen since Monday, August 1.
The missing athletes had surrendered their passports so are not able to leave the country.
Officials have now removed documents for all remaining members of the team currently at the games in Birmingham.
All 161 athletes and coaching staff were granted standard 180-day visas by the government for the event.
Sri Lankan team spokesperson Gobinath Sivarajah said: “We have asked all athletes and officials to submit their passports to our respective venue officials in all the villages after the incident.
“The police are investigating and the three cannot cross the UK borders. What has happened is really unfortunate.”
There are fears the three may have disappeared to avoid returning to Sri Lanka.
The country is currently grappling with the worst economic crisis in more than seven decades as medicine, fuel and food begins to run out.
A state of emergency has been declared after a string of protests across the nation.
The US has declared the monkeypox outbreak a public health emergency following a spike in cases.
It comes less than two weeks after the World Health Organization (WHO) issued its highest emergency alert following a worldwide surge in cases.
Cases have topped 6,600 in the US, according to health officials.
The decision by the US to label the disease a public health emergency will speed up the distribution of vaccines, treatments and federal resources to curb the spread of the virus.
The three states with the highest caseloads are New York, California and Illinois.
More than 26,000 cases have been confirmed worldwide this year, data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) shows.
Although anyone can catch monkeypox, the outbreak has been largely concentrated among men who have sex with men.
The virus typically causes pimple-like rashes, which can be extremely itchy and painful, to develop and spread across the body, as well as other complications.
Minister of Information, Lai Mohammed has asked Google to block terrorists organisations from YouTube.
Lai Mohammed who made the request when a team from Google visited him in Abuja on Thursday August 4, listed Biafra Digest TV, Umu Biafra TV, Biafra Digest, Asa Biafra TV as examples of channels that spread subversive information/ contents.
The Minister claimed that some of the channels use local languages during their broadcast to evade being censored.
He said;
”We want Google to look into how to tackle the use of private and unlisted YouTube channels and YouTube live streams by proscribed groups and terrorist organisations. Channels and emails containing names of proscribed groups and their affiliates should not be allowed on Google platforms..
“Your platform is a platform of choice for IPOB, a proscribed terrorist group.
“We implore you not to make your platform available to them for their acts of violence and destabilisation.
“We hope you will cooperate with us as well as our security agencies in this direction.”
Lai Mohammed also said the government recently proposed a “Code of Practice for Interactive Computer Service Platforms/ Internet Intermediaries”.
The code, according to him, provides a framework for collaboratively protecting Nigerian users of Internet platforms.
He added;
“This code couldn’t have come at a better time, as the country prepares for general elections next year. We are committed to working with platforms like yours as well as the civil society, lawyers, media practitioners and other relevant stakeholders to ensure a responsible use of the Internet and to protect our people from the harmful effects of social media.”
In his remarks,Google Regional Dir.,Sub-Saharan Africa,Govt. Affairs and Public Policy, Mr. Charles Murito,said the platform has introduced a prog. called “Trusted Flaggers” for citizens trained to track and engage with online contents in order to flag contents of serious concern
He said;
“As I mentioned earlier, we share the same sentiments, we share the same goals and objectives and we do not want our platform to be used for ill purposes.”
On his part, Google Government Affairs and Public Policy Manager, Mr. Adewolu Adene, said “Equiano”, a subsea cable which recently berthed in Nigeria from Portugal, is aimed at enhancing connectivity and access to the internet as well as to drive down the cost of data,in order to create jobs and facilitate the transfer of knowledge.
He said through the Google News Initiative Challenge, 30 media platforms, with 5 from Nigeria, including the Dubawa fact-checking platform, would be awarded a $3.2 million grant in recognition of their innovative work in information dissemination.
Mr. Adene also pledged the readiness of Google to work with the Federal Ministry of Information and Culture to digitize the recently-repatriated artifacts in order to preserve and market them to a global audience through Google Arts and Culture
Suddenly, it is all quiet on the eastern front. No street heckles or flag waving or mooning over a yellow sun, no hooting or baying in public. The rabble no longer raves. Few wonder what happened to the Nnamdi Kanu crowd. Some may wonder if they are withering?
The answer is before our eyes. The Biafran babblers are alive and well. They just swapped icons, rechristened the shrines and rewrote the rites. They left the prophet for a secular priest. They have had a switch of battle gear.
Maybe it is not quiet. We can hear and feel the cacophony. The chants and caterwauling are everywhere, especially on the phones. The twitter bees, the Instagram grimes, the Facebook freaks. They are alive and well, but they have not been at war at the side of their icon, who is griping in detention.
It’s farewell Kanu. Welcome Obi, at least until the new priest peters out. They are at his worship. They embrace it because it does not, for the first time in years, feel like they are outside the mainstream. They are not falling foul of the law, not howling from the fringes. They have Peter Obi as their man. He is mainstream. He belongs, not to the MASSOB, or Kanu’s assembly called IPOB. They can say they have a legitimate tribe and rhetoric. They may pretend to love Nigeria. They may claim to embrace INEC, cling to a political party no one in the police or DSS will harangue.
But that is where it stops. They have transferred the temperament of their former master into the new. And they have not spared any incoherence, any lack of finesse, and threats and tantrums, any show of rabid, primitive cants, or any ululations. They have abused, cursed, thrown imprecations. They have hugged lies about their candidate. They have pelted lies about others. They have distorted material.
Obi has turned out to be an excuse for even closet Biafrans to betray open emotions about Biafra without being accused of it. This includes intellectuals who did not show mercy to him while he reigned in Anambra as a pharisaic chief executive. It is like wearing a colour beneath another colour. Obi has become a shelter for both miscreants and activists of the crowd.
Obi knows this. He is happy to be their catharsis, to be their excuse for unfurling their bile at the system, for acting like revolutionaries. He is playing to it by acting as though he is the saint of Nigerian politics. Perhaps the purists of the Biafran cause are unhappy, and they unleashed a past video clip of Kanu on the social media. In it, Kanu lashes out at Obi as governor and stated what this essayist wrote about him over building a NEXT supermarket while still the governor of Anambra State. The video clip referred to him as a sort of sexual being on the fringe. You can imagine an Aso Rock sweltering with romps of the evil flesh. His so-called Obidients know this. But it counts for little.
They also know that this is the same Obi, whose emissaries were intercepted, while a governor at Apapa, by then police chief Marvel Akpoyibo with over 200 million cash. The matter became a cause celebre with impeachment dangling until the timid state house of assembly was on the take. This is the man they call stingy because he dared to spend on himself and his family, his wife being accused of spending N1.5 billion on tours. The man that admitted he placed Anambra money in his family account, and was not ashamed to confess when confronted. He did not follow due process. This is the man who is speaking from both sides of his mouth for maintaining an offshore account while a governor. This is Obi, who claimed he saved money, while pensioners were looking desperately at their graves.
I can excuse those who think that being stingy is good for the economy because they are looking at how they run their family and personal finances. But no economy works in history by saving money. It stifles the economy. He has not been able to tell us how he will do it, and whether he has done it. We have no landmark in Anambra State to attribute to him, no enduring legacy.
But this essayist can understand why Obi knows that the crowd that adores him will not question him. He is therefore using religion as a bait. He is now on a weekly pilgrimage to churches. Jonathan did the same. The pastors, ever opportunistic, see him as a darling. He is visiting a sectional hue of pews. This is the man who divided the church in Anambra State in his time between Catholics and the others. He is trying to push himself as the Christian candidate of the south while his messengers foul the air with sanctimonious growl about Muslim-Muslim ticket. I am sure Kanu will chuckle in his cocoon, especially when he contemplates what he alleges as his sinful romps in hotels.
There is a divide here. He is pushing himself as a southern candidate. His core followers are advancing him as the Igbo candidate. But how do we reconcile the Biafran with an Obi, who even MASSOB, has denied has anything to do with them? Obi is taking a Machiavellian attitude to the matter. If Biafran impulse will propel him, he will take it. The Biafrans on board believe Obi is their best revenge on the Nigerian state. They can take over the zoo by acting as members of the zoo.
But this psychology is nothing new. The private man and public man may not always cohere. In their huts, they are Biafrans. On the frontlines of battle, they are Obi. It is like Mr. Mani in A.B. Yehoshua’s novel who calls himself a Jew but does not believe in Jehovah. He embraces the culture but renounces its mystery. One of 20th century’s top philosophers, Hannah Arendt, obsesses over this schizophrenia in his opus, The Origins of Totalitarianism. The Obi followers accept Biafra but reject Nigeria. They abandon the mystic of the cause, Nnamdi Kanu, and have followed Obi, its inauthentic saint. It is the pragmatism of the cause. Kanu is the unarmed prophet, sulking behind bars. Obi is out in the open, a bird in hand. Machiavelli warned against the unarmed prophet, who fights without power. Elijah was armed against his foes. So was Jesus until he was crucified. They see Obi as armed with electoral quest. It is their own version of the Trojan War. Obi is the Greek Gift that they will ride in the battle for conquest.
They have now evangelised others from outside the southeast to give a regional legitimacy to their cause. They call themselves Obidients but they obey only one call: the sound of the east. Those in south-south have been seduced as by the cooing of Obi’s voice as by evangelism of the Biafrans. Mind you, they have not abandoned Kanu. But their icon has no power for now. Obi is like Zik, Kanu like Ojukwu. One is a flair, the other a flare.
While Obi hops from church to church and beclouds the hypocrisy among political pastors, the nation watches as his sectional army taunts and harangues others. But Obi will do nothing to restrain his rabble because he knows they are doing a good job in keeping the faithful within their own bubble where they reinforce their own self-delusions. That will last until their last call at the polls. This is not the time to properly interrogate in details the false intimations of Obi’s agenda and hypocrisies. But it is safe to say one thing. Before he peters out and hurtles towards an electoral Obi-tuary, the country knows the content of the crowd and its origin. They are a caterwauling group trying to seduce, without much success, those outside its ethno-religious tent.
A businesswoman identified as Asiata Oladejo, has told a Mapo Grade A Customary Court, in Ibadan, Oyo state to dissolve her marriage on grounds that her estranged husband, Abidemi, was unreliable and abandoned her and their children during a robbery attack.
Oladejo made the submission in her counter argument in the divorce suit filed by her husband.
”My Lord, I am yet to recover from the shock I experienced when a gang of thieves raided our house. He hid in the toilet, leaving me to pant in front of the armed robbers, who terrorised the entire residents of the house.
My lord, when the thieves arrived at around 1am. on that night, my husband was nowhere to be found to defend the children and I.
Unknown to me, he hid in the toilet. He only came out when they had gone. My husband wanted us to continue living in that house,” she said.
Abidemi in his defense said that his wife was ill-tempered.
”She comes to my shop unannounced to torment me. It is true that I hid in the toilet when armed robbers attacked our house. All the attempts made to bring her back home failed, because she said she was unnecessarily scared,” he said
He prayed the court to grant him custody of the three children because he had been a responsible father.
Delivering judgment, the President of the Court, Mrs S. M. Akintayo, granted the order restraining Oladejo from threatening, harassing and interfering in the private life of Abidemi.
Akintayo granted custody of the three children to Oladejo, adding that she was in the best position to cater for them.
“Both petitioner and respondent shall be responsible for the education and other welfare of the children. In addition, Abidemi shall pay a monthly feeding allowance of N20,000 for the children’s upkeep. Both of you must maintain peace and order,” Akintayo held.
She, however, noted that there was no marriage to dissolve between the couple, because their union could not be considered as a marriage. She stated that their marriage was not in accordance with laid down customary laws of Nigeria.
A woman has hired a mistress to help please her husband sexually after posting the unusual job opening online.
The 44-year-old, named Pattheema from Thailand, took to TikTok with the strange job advert.
She explained in the advert that she wants to hire a mistress for her husband as she believed she wasn’t able to please him by herself.
The wife said in the video: “I want to hire three mistresses for my husband.”
The video went on to specify that the women had to be between 30 and 35 and have either finished high school or have a degree.
The wife also said that the mistresses had to have a medical check to prove they don’t have HIV.
The advert continues: “You will get paid at least 15,000 baht (around £340) a month, get free accommodation, and free meals. But you need to help me out. Two will be hired to help with document work in my office, and another one will be hired to take care of me, my husband, and my child.”
The woman went on to assure applicants she wouldn’t despise her husband’s other lovers.
“I guarantee there will be no fight between you and me. I allow my husband to choose who he wants to sleep with or stay with. No schedule, he can pick by himself,” she said.
Despite the weird nature of the request, the couple found an interested mistress and they have welcomed her into their home.
Pattheema has reportedly asked a “beautiful” 33-year-old to join the family as her husband’s mistress.
She said although the woman was “not what [her husband] expected”, he agreed that she could be his “little wife”, and Pattheema has now closed applications for the position.
The woman is a “close friend” of Pattheema, and the three of them say them plan to take care of each other.
Former presidential aspirant of the All Progressives Congress, APC, in the 2019 presidential election, Dr. SKC Ogbonnia, has disclosed his intention to dump his political party affiliation and its 2023 presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu, to support the presidential candidate of the Labour Party, LP, Mr. Peter Obi.
Ogbonnia said that his endorsement of Obi was because the LP presidential candidate is a ‘democratic revolution, whose time has come,’ adding that “with every sense of patriotism, he was joining the Nigerian masses to endorse Obi as the next president of Nigeria.
“Though I remain a member of All Progressives Congress, APC, I must not support Tinubu, its presidential candidate in the 2023 elections. The decision to endorse the candidate of an opposition party did not come easy. But there comes a time to say ‘enough is enough’, Ogbonnia stated.
In a statement he made available to newsmen on yesterday, Ogbonnia said that his first disdain for Tinubu was that neither fellow party members nor ordinary Nigerians can claim to know who Ahmed Tinubu truly is.
“Everything about the man is shady—from his name, state of origin, the schools attended, certificates received; his record in America to his true source of income, let alone any true intention of seeking the presidency, apart from an arrogant claim that it is his turn to rule Nigeria.
“Besides the shady background, a series of events also show that Tinubu does not have any good sense of equity, justice, fairness, and patriotism, virtues he claims to promote.
The truth is that Bola Ahmed Tinubu is even more insensitive about the Nigerian state and her problems than President Muhammadu Buhari. It is a common knowledge that the APC National Leader no longer possesses the physical fitness to explore the Nigerian presidency, but it has equally become very apparent that he no longer has the mental capacity,” Ogbonnia claimed.
see intellect, character, competence, and capacity; I see integrity and humility. I see patriotism; I see dynamism. I see enviable and verifiable track-record; I see attainable visions; I see hope for the Nigeria of our founding dreams; I see a democratic revolution whose time has come. This move is consistent with my politics. I never allow the mere exigencies of ethnicity, religion, or party affiliation to becloud my judgment. As a member of the National Republican Convention (NRC), I crossed party lines to campaign for MKO Abiola, the flagbearer for the Social Democratic Party (SDP). I saw Abiola as a better candidate than the candidate of my party, Bashir Tofa.
“I was a card-carrying member of Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) in its thickest state of Enugu. However, after the fraudulent general elections of 2007 where the ruling PDP dictated who won or who lost, I changed course. I vowed to join any movement that could remove PDP from power. I would become a foundation member of the APC and promoted Buhari to victory. I remain proud that we made history by dethroning the PDP–a virally corrupt ruling party that had planned to hold on to power for 60 unbroken years. We demonstrated consequences for bad behavior. “Unfortunately, today, with Asiwaju Tinubu as its National Leader, the APC does not appear to have any ideological, moral, or ethical difference with the much-discredited PDP. Today, my party has shamelessly become a safe haven for corrupt kingpins indicted while in PDP. To make matters worse, the two presidential candidates of APC and PDP, Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Atiku Abubakar, respectively, are two of the most perfidious poster boys for Nigeria’s corrupt oligarchy. In short, neither Atiku nor Tinubu can in good conscience campaign against corruption.
“It is pertinent to note that no Nigerian leader, whether military or civilian, has ever assumed the governance of the country with the degree of mercenary influence cum notoriety commonly equated with Atiku and Tinubu. I have a conscience. I have chosen my country over my party. I have become OBI-dient for the greater good of Nigeria!! I call on other true progressives to do so,” Ogbonnia charged.
Ex-Manchester United striker, Louis Saha has hit out at his former team-mate Cristiano Ronaldo, saying he’s selfish with his decision to leave the club.
Ronaldo requested to leave Old Trafford during crunch talks last month and did so again upon his belated return to training last week.
The Portuguese star made an emotional return to Old Trafford last summer after departing for Real Madrid in 2009, signing a two-year deal with the Red Devils with the option of a third.
But after a disappointing season last term, with the club missing out on Champions League football, Ronaldo requested an early exit, which has left Saha angry.
‘In some way, from Cristiano Ronaldo’s point of view it’s a bit unrealistic to ask now a club of this size to adapt to him and his dream,’ Saha told SkyBet.
‘Even last year, I’m sorry but the magic could have happened and everything could have gone well and they won the Champions League and the Premier League and there we go, he could say that he could stay because he had participated in that. It was unrealistic that just his arrival would have changed all this.
‘Asking that again after a poor season and maybe not great transfer market business in his view, I don’t really understand how dramatic it is to change and to do all those things. I think that last year he had been in Juventus but they hadn’t won the Champions League.’
Saha, who has the club’s best interests at heart accused the five-time Ballon d’Or winner of ‘thinking about himself’ rather than putting the club first.
‘I’m not Cristiano but as someone who seems to be a supporter of Manchester United, I have felt like he hasn’t shown completely enough of that, he is thinking about himself.
He said: ‘I am not going to judge him because he is an immense player and I’m not in his position, but I would have loved him to stay because he’s a terrific player. No-one can judge his actions at this moment because it’s his own career.’
The camp of Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State has listed demands that must be met before it would back the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, and his running mate, Governor Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta State.
Recall that the decision of the party’s presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, to pick Governor Ifeanyi Okowa as his running mate, snubbing a selection committee that had recommended Governor Nyesom Wike, had thrown the main opposition party into crisis.
The meeting, it was gathered, would consider demands of the aggrieved Wike-led camp, who insist on the removal of the National Chairman of the opposition party, Iyorchia Ayu.
Sources within the party’s national secretariat told The Guardian that the Wike camp also wants Atiku to sign an undertaking that he would spend only one term in office before they decide to back him.
Also on the list of demands to be considered by the BoT are that all members of the Wike team will be considered for appointment should the party win the presidential election next year.
It was gathered that members of the NWC had engaged one another in informal consultation ahead of the meeting. According to the party’s constitution, the only bodies empowered to cause the removal of the national chairman are the National Executive Committee (NEC) and the National Convention.
Recall that Wike and members of his camp had met in Abuja on Sunday over issues rocking the PDP.
Those at the meeting included Governors Wike, Seyi Makinde (Oyo), Okezie Ikpeazu (Abia), Samuel Ortom (Benue), and Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi (Enugu).
Others were former governors Donald Duke (Cross River), Gabriel Suswam (Benue), Olusegun Mimiko (Ondo), Seriake Dickson (Bayelsa), Ibrahim Idris (Kogi), and Jonah Jang (Plateau).
Also at the meeting were the Senate Minority Leader, Senator Philip Aduda, and other lawmakers.
There are fears of a possible World War 3 after a top Russian senator pledged that his country will come to China’s aid if there is escalation with the US over Taiwan
his country’s support if China goes to war over Taiwan.
Speaking after tensions in the region rose following the visit of US Speaker Nancy Pelosi to Taiwan, Vladimir Dzhabarov said he sees “no grounds to refuse to help China.”
In his role as first deputy chairman of the international committee in Russia ’s Federation Council, he said he hopes help for China would be “a two-way movement” as Russia continues its war in Ukraine.
He said;
“It means that we should have some benefits from this cooperation.
“I am convinced that in this case China hopes for a certain assistance from Russia.”
Also alluding to the possibility of a Chinese confrontation with the US, the Putin ally insisted China was behaving in a “restrained manner” and that he is convinced it will be difficult for them to go toe-to-toe with the US without support from Russia.
Taiwan which is an Asian Island, brands itself the Republic of China (ROC), is where the nationalist party fled to after the CCP took control in 1949 following a civil war.
Away from the authoritarian communist rule on the mainland, Taiwan is now a self-governed democracy with a military of its own after years of reform and an economic boom.
While only a handful of countries formally recognise it, to do so would mean breaking diplomatic ties with China, most Western countries have unofficial and informal relations with it.
ola Sobowale, the ace actress, has recalled how she left Nigeria to do menial jobs in order to cater to her children who were schooling in the United Kingdom.
Speaking in the latest episode of #WithChude, the film star said she left the fame and stardom to give her children the motherly love they so “richly desire” while they were studying in UK varsities.
Sobowale also recounted how she left her mouthwatering acting job, which was fetching her over N5 million within months — during the early 2000s — for menial jobs in England.
She said while in the UK, she worked multiple “7.5 pounds per hour” jobs like cleaning, cooking, and mopping office floors to make ends meet.
“I went back to England and noticed the kids lack motherly touch. Then I moved to England and forget stardom,” she told Chude Jideonwo, the media personality.
“Now, all of them are working and now they appreciate me for my sacrifice and ask me to go back to what I know how to do best so that’s why I’m back in Nigeria.
“I was practically living in Enugu because I shot a movie, ‘Christ In Me’, after the movie the fame came. So I was given another job, to film one and come back, but eventually, I got over 10 movies so I was stationed at Enugu. And in one location I spent one week. In that one week, I was on N800,000 and that was in the year 2000.
“So like that, when I’m coming back to Lagos, I had over N5 million within how many months, the money was blowing.
“So I left that for 7 pounds per hour jobs in England. Then before I could make 1000 pounds I have to work extra hard. There is nothing this woman cannot do because I know what is called dignity in labour. I will sweep anywhere so far it will put food on my table, cloth on my children, and shelter on my head.
“I swept, cooked, washed, mopped, cleaned offices. Yes, I did all those. The other thing is I wasn’t sleeping. On the train or bus, I make sure I wear my uniform with the name of the company like that.
“Then you hear Nigerians say ‘She isn’t the one’, ‘Sola Sobowale, no she isn’t the one’. I will then tell them it’s me, my name is Sola Sobowale, so they will ask what I’m doing here and I ask them the same question. I made a lot of friends. Now, I’m happy because it’s now history.”
She also revealed that she had initially wanted them to attend one of the top varsities in Nigeria but was discouraged due to the incessant strikes by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU).
“Education is the only legacy you can give your children. So inside me, I said if my children want to go to university they will either go to the University of Ibadan, Ife, or Lagos but unfortunately, they always strike. So a course of 3 years ends up to be 6 years,” she added.
“So I thought if I can pay this much for primary and secondary, I should be able to for university too. So let my children leave Nigeria, that was why I moved my children to London.”
A man has cried out after his wife sold his house for 10 million Naira.
The husband said he bought the land for 9.5 million Naira then spent more millions to build the house, which contains four flats.
He also spent a lot of money to pay the community for development fees as well as other fees.
When the house was completed, he said he traveled and, upon his return, he discovered his wife had sold the house for just NGN10 million and absconded with the money.
He also questioned why a buyer will purchase a house of such magnitude for just 10 million Naira without getting suspicious.
The naira, on Tuesday, sustained its momentum at the parallel market, appreciating to N665 per dollar a few days after security operatives raided Bureaux De Change (BDC) hub in Abuja.
The development represents N30 or 4.3 percent gain compared to the N695 to a dollar on Monday.
Currency traders known as Bureaux De Change operators (BDCs) at the Ikeja area of Lagos, who spoke to TheCable, quoted the buying rate of the greenback at N650 and the selling price at N665 per dollar.
According to the traders, the gains are largely influenced by increased dollar liquidity in the market.
“Dollar is plenty in the market now. Some oil companies also brought out dollars to sell,” a BDC operator told TheCable.
On the official market side, the naira appreciated by 0.03 percent to close at N428.88 to a dollar on Monday, according to data on FMDQ OTC Securities Exchange, a platform that oversees official foreign-exchange trading in Nigeria.
Last week, operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) raided Wuse Zone 4, Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, over allegations that some Bureaux De Change (BDC) operators are mopping up foreign currencies.
“The raid by EFCC in Abuja BDCs last week dampened demand,” a source told TheCable.
“There were large buyers last week that many had to queue up!
“The current situation tells you that if you allow the market to work, it will find its level. We were blaming aboki fx before.”
Aminu Gwadabe, president of the Association of Bureaux De Change (BDC) operators, told TheCable that the “market surveillance” was done in collaboration with the association.
“We have a cordial relationship with the security agencies and ongoing collaboration with the agencies on the exchange rate issues,” he said.
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) regularly intervenes in the official foreign exchange market to maintain stability.
Last week, Osita Nwasinobi, spokesperson of the CBN, said the apex bank would continue to make deliberate efforts in the forex sector to avoid further downward slides in the value of the naira.
He further advised forex buyers not to succumb to speculative activities of some players in the FX market to save the naira from further decline.
Datti Baba Ahmed, vice presidential candidate of the Labour Party, has said that the party’s presidential candidate, Peter Obi, is not in support of the Indegenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and its activities.
Baba-Ahmed made this known when he appeared on Trust TV’s Daily Politics on Monday.
“I sharply disagree that Peter Obi is in support of IPOB because I wouldn’t be with him today (if he is),” he said.
He noted that those allegations are unsubstantiated.
He said, “It’s the same kind of interview they did for me when I said I want to be addressed for 2023 election as a Nigerian. There is nothing that people cannot say. Just this morning, I had to do a press conference to the multiplicity of fake news all around … those allegations are yet unsubstantiated.”
Baba-Ahmed added that before he agreed to be Obi’s running mate, he did all the investigations he could and nothing linked the former Anambra State governor to IPOB.
He said, “For example, they said Northerners were treated unfairly by being made to wear ID cards, before I decided to join Peter Obi’s ticket. Within weeks I did all the investigations I could. Mobile phones were already carrying cameras, I asked for and even offered some compensation ‘can I see just one picture of anybody who stood and said that while Peter Obi was governor in Anambra State, he made me to wear this?’ and there was none.
“And I should sit down and believe reckless people who just talk anyhow because you’ve come out in politics when I know the kind of politics that we play.”
Twins conjoined in the skulls/brains have been successfully separated in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, after a laborious 33 hours of operations.
The surgeons spent months trialling techniques using virtual reality before beginning the real procedures on the three-year-old boys.
Bernardo and Arthur Lima underwent several surgeries under the direction of UK-based paediatric surgeon Noor ul Owase Jeelani from London’s Great Ormond Street Hospital.
The three-year-old boys had a total of seven operations, involving more than 33 hours of operating time in the final two surgeries alone, and 100 medical staff were involved.
Their surgery was led by Mr Jeelani, alongside Dr Gabriel Mufarrej, head of paediatric surgery at Instituto Estadual do Cerebro Paulo Niemeyer.
Mr Jeelani described the operation as a “remarkable achievement” by medics, but added the charity, Gemini Untwined, relies on public donations to keep its work going.
He said: “The successful separation of Bernardo and Arthur is a remarkable achievement by the team in Rio and a fantastic example of why the work of Gemini Untwined is so valuable.
Not only have we provided a new future for the boys and their family, we have equipped the local team with the capabilities and confidence to undertake such complex work successfully again in the future.
“It is through this process of teamwork and knowledge-sharing globally that we can hope to improve the outcome for all children and families that find themselves in this difficult position.
“This is only possible through generous donations from members of the public.”
Gabriel Mufarrej said the hospital where he works had been caring for the boys for two and a half years, and their surgery will be “life-changing”.
He said: “Since the parents of the boys came from their home in the Roraima region to Rio to seek our help two and a half years ago, they had become part of our family here in the hospital.
“We are delighted that the surgery went so well and the boys and their family have had such a life-changing outcome.”
The presidential campaign of the Labour Party candidate, Mr. Peter Obi, received a boost on Tuesday in Abuja with the inauguration of the national council of the coalition known as the “Obidient Movement.”
The coalition says Obi represents as a “paradigm shift that would deliver Nigeria from the current woes in the country.”
The group told newsmen in Abuja that a National Coordinating Council of the movement is to be headed by leaders drawn from the country’s six geopolitical zones to commence nationwide mobilisation.
The former Chairman of the Inter-Party Advisory Council, Mallam Tanko Yunusa, said that the Obi presidency would address national woes ranging from a high unemployment rate to insecurity of lives and property.
Yunusa described President Muhammadu Buhari’s government as the worst administration since independence in 1960.
He said: “The country has indeed been confronted with diverse security threats ranging from election violence, census crises, ethno-religious conflicts, communal clashes, militancy, and terrorism but most of these were either localised or sporadic before this administration.
“Unfortunately, what we have been witnessing since 2015 is the amalgamation and molten mix of all these crises, all happening simultaneously, unhindered and in a terrifying fashion across Nigeria.
“Nowhere is safe in the 36 states of the country with road, rail and air travels constituting a nightmare for Nigerians. The country is under the siege of terrorists, bandits and other criminal gangs holding sway over swaths of ungoverned territories from the North to the South, East, and West.”
He further said: “The most disheartening of these challenges is the fact that there is a well-orchestrated plan by foreign terrorists with their sponsors to cause more havoc and entrench a chaotic atmosphere and a dangerous agenda. While the daily killings and bloodletting of Nigerians have continued unabated under the All Progressives Congress (APC) led Federal Government.
“To make matters worse, President Buhari’s administration from all indications looks dazed, clueless and incapable of taming the deteriorating economic and political situation in the country.
“Similarly, the country’s economy is in shambles with little or no effort to turn things around. Poor fiscal and monetary policies, and a politically compromised Central Bank of Nigeria Governor in addition to a non-existent Presidential Economic Management Team have combined to usher in the worst form of inflation, scorched-earth economic policies, free fall of the Naira and badly managed petroleum industry, especially the downstream sector.
“Consequently, Nigeria is occupying the unenviable position of the poverty capital of the world with poor development indicators in all spheres of the economy. The high rate of poverty has also exacerbated criminal activities and other forms of vices in society,” he said.
He lamented that Nigerian students had been kept away from institutions of higher learning as a result of long avoidable strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities caused by the lack of education priority of the APC-led Federal Government.
“What this ugly scenario shows is that APC and the Buhari administration have failed woefully in all indices and indicators of good governance. They failed miserably to deliver on the three key areas they anchored their administration on, which are to improve security, the economy and the anti-corruption fight,” Yunusa said.
He accused the ruling party of breaking all the negative records and bringing the country to its lowest point, adding that it has only shown a capacity for propaganda and amplifying actions and decisions that further polarised Nigerians along our fault lines.
“Another four or eight years under a party that has shown an absolute lack of capacity to govern would destroy this country. And we must collectively rise to stop this NOW,” Yunusa also said.
Speaking on his candidate’s chances, he said: “Obi has most of the qualities of a hands-on 21st-century leader who understands the dynamics of governance both at the local, national and global levels. He represents a paradigm shift and an ideal for a new Nigeria that youths are proud to champion.
“He is a fill-in portrait of what a 21st century Nigerian President should be, beyond the vagaries of a wasteful elite built on patronage and cronyism. Obi who has had a stellar performance both in private and public office has equally picked another breath of fresh air personality in Dr Yusuf Datti-Ahmed as his Vice.
“The Obidient movement is also not limited to Nigeria as our Diaspora community consisting of some of the most brilliant brains in the world are actively involved.”
The Nigerian Air Force (NAF) has launched an offensive operation tagged ‘Operation Show no Mercy’ against rampaging terrorists disturbing the peace of the country through various attacks.
The Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Oladayo Amao, while launching the operation at a meeting with NAF operational commanders in the various theatres of operation charged the senior air troops to ensure that they employ maximum firepower against the terrorists.
According to a statement issued on Wednesday by the spokesman of the armed force, Edward Gabkwet, those the Air Chief met at NAF Base in Kaduna on Tuesday include frontline Air Officers Commanding and Air Component Commanders.
Amao said launching an offensive operation against the adversaries would deny the terrorists freedom of movement, adding that it would also boost the confidence of the populace and ensure a peaceful country.
The Air Chief explained that the security environment remains fluid and uncertain with terrorists moving between the northeast, northwest and north central.
He, therefore, noted that there is a need to continually modify NAF’s air power strategies to stay ahead of the asymmetric and unconventional nature of terrorists’ activities is of paramount importance.
”We have a responsibility to secure our nation and give our citizens a sense of hope, trust and belonging. Therefore, we must ensure that we stay ahead of the enemy and envisage his next line of action.
”I, therefore, charge you to show no mercy against any terrorist and their accomplices while also denying them the freedom of movement and ease to cause mayhem against innocent Nigerians,” Amao said.
He assured them that training of more combat pilots, imagery analysts and other specialities in the NAF would continue to be of utmost priority to address the manpower challenges within the operation areas.
Other issues addressed during the interface included the need to ensure a speedy procurement circle of aircraft spares to minimise aircraft downtime among other issues.
While commending them for their efforts as well as the improved synergy with sister services and other security agencies, Amao also underscored the need for effective allocation and utilization of all NAF platforms deployed for operations in the Northwest and Northcentral for enhanced operational effectiveness.
Reality TV star, Todd Chrisley has recounted how he became a “slave” to money and material things before he was found guilty of bank fraud and tax evasion.
Speaking during the most recent episode of his podcast, “Chrisley Confessions,” the 53-year-old reality TV star said he allowed fame get to his head, which pushed him into making some questionable decisions.
He said;
“I got lost when I couldn’t tell the difference in my self-worth and my net worth.
“And the bigger my net worth became, the less I focused on my self-worth because everything was being built around that net worth. Around stuff.”
He further disclosed that because he wanted “to keep up with everyone” around him, he began purchasing “all these cars and all these houses.”
He said;
“You become a slave to the things that you thought were going to bring you peace. So I got lost in that and for my whole life because I think I was too ignorant — and when I use the word ignorant [I mean] I [didn’t] know that I understood how to differentiate self-worth and net worth.”
The Chrisley patriarch noted that in time he “finally realized” that his priorities were out of whack with what he really wanted.
He added;
“I finally realized that I wasn’t competing with everyone else around me, I was competing with me because my self-worth is low.
“And I think that God is showing me through so many things that he’s doing every day that I’m worthy. [He’s saying], ‘I’ve got you, son, I’ve got you in my right hand. I’ve got you right where I want you because your eyes are focused on me and you’re not taking them off of me.’”
The TV personality further explained that thanks to that realization and continued faith in God, he and Julie have gotten to a very zen place despite their legal woes.
He said;
“I’m willing to share what I have gotten from my therapy.
“It’s taught me that I’m not with myself. That I’m with my Lord and Savoir. That I’m with God who’s by my side 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
“It’s taught me that I’m doing nothing by myself to where before I did everything on my own.”
On how his marriage has been affected with the recent stress, Chrisley said;
“I said in my perspective it has drawn me closer to my wife. I feel like my marriage for me personally, internally, is the strongest that I’ve ever felt that it’s ever been — that’s for me, that’s how I feel.
“I feel like for the first time in my life, in my marriage, I feel like my marriage is feeding a part of me that I didn’t even know was starving. I feel like I understand you from a different level [more] than I ever have before and I feel like that you have opened up more since all of this than you have the entire time that we’ve been in our marriage.”
Back in June, TMZ reported that Julie and Todd, who also has two children, Lindsie, 32, and Kyle, 30, with his ex-wife, Teresa Terry, were found guilty of bank fraud and tax evasion.
Prosecutors claimed that the couple submitted fake documents to banks when applying for loans. Julie also allegedly submitted false credit reports and bank statements when trying to rent a house in California.
During the initial trial, Todd’s former business partner, Mark Braddock, testified against him and claimed that they were intimate for about a year in the early 2000s.
The duo pleaded not guilty, but on June 7, they were convicted on all counts. Additionally, Julie, 49, was also charged with one count of wire fraud and one count of obstruction of justice after previously being accused of creating a fake credit report to rent a home. The pair’s sentencing hearing is set for October.
A McDonald’s worker in Brooklyn, New York, was shot during a fight over cold French fries.
The 23-year-old victim was working at the fast-food joint at 1531 Fulton St. in Bedford-Stuyvesant around 7 p.m. Monday, August 1, when a female customer started hassling him over her fries.
The woman, who complained that her fries were cold, was FaceTiming her 20-year-old son during the argument, and the son soon stormed into the restaurant and began fighting with the employee.
They took the fight outside the restaurant and the son brought out a gun and shot the worker in the neck, cops said on Tuesday, August 2.
The man is currently fighting for his life in a hospital.
“I feel like crying. You shot someone over French fries?” a witness, who owns a local business, to The Post on Tuesday.
Another witness said, “The co-workers, they were around [the victim]. They were on their phones, and they were crying.
A man took off his shirt and put it on the neck to try to stop the bleeding. [The victim’s] right eye was swollen shut.”
“He couldn’t talk,” the witness said of the wounded employee. “He was just shaking. His chest was heaving. He was still breathing when they put him on the stretcher.”
The victim remained in extremely critical condition at Brookdale Hospital in Brooklyn on Tuesday, sources said.
His distraught family and friends wept and consoled each other on the steps of the hospital’s emergency-room entrance Tuesday afternoon.
“He is a good guy,” a coworker told The Post.
A single .9mm bullet was recovered at the scene and the suspected shooter was taken into custody, police sources said.
Charges have yet to be filed.
The suspected shooter has been previously arrested several times, including for grand larceny in 2019 and assault and theft of service in 2018, sources said. He also has numerous sealed arrest cases against him, they said.
A Brazilian bodybuilder and TikTok star who went viral by injecting himself with life-threatening oil to create 23-inch biceps, has died on his 55th birthday in Ribeirao Preto.
Valdir Segato from Sao Paulo, who was inspired by the physiques of Arnold Schwarzenegger and fictional characters like The Hulk, used synthol injections for years despite risking strokes and infections to produce hulking biceps, pectorals, and back muscles.
According to Mail Online, Segato was warned he faced amputation or nerve damage, and muscle disfigurement six years ago but continued to use the injections to bulk himself out.
The former construction worker even vowed that he wanted to get even bigger.
Speaking in 2016, he said: ‘They call me Hulk, Schwarzenegger and He-Man all the time and I like that. I’ve doubled my biceps but I still want to be bigger.’
He proudly posted images and videos to social media, calling himself ‘Valdir Synthol’ on Instagram.
According to local media, he died after after being taken to hospital complaining about shortness of breath
One man named Moisés da Conceição da Silva said on the day Segato died, he had asked his mother for help, complaining about a shortness of breath.
‘It was around 6 am, more or less. He came crawling through the back house and came to the front. Then he knocked on my mother’s window, knocked, knocked, then she woke up and he said ‘help me, help me because I’m dying,” Moisés said, according to Brazil’s Globo news publication.
He was taken to the North Emergency Care Unit (UPA) – a medical facility in the city but could not be saved.
‘They put him in the car and then the neighbour went to the UPA. He arrived at the UPA, he fell at the reception, having a heart attack. I think he had a heart attack’, Moisés told the news website.
Moisés’ brother, Jadson da Conceição, told Globo that this was not the first time Segato
had to be rushed to hospital, and had previously complained of shortness of breath. The first time, he said, they were able to get him to the hospital on time. This time, he said, there was no saving him.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has said that over seven million Nigerians failed to complete their registration process at physical centres across the country.
Recall that the continuous voter registration exercise (CVR) was concluded on Sunday July 31.
Data released by the commission showed that 10,487,972 Nigerians carried out their pre-registration online. Out of this number, only 3,444,378 Nigerians representing 32.8 percent, completed the process at a physical centre.
The data also showed that 7,043,594 persons representing over 67 percent of those who began their registration process online, are not eligible to receive a voter card before the 2023 general election and will therefore not be able to vote.
Though INEC said a total of 12,298,944 Nigerians completed their voter registration, 8,854,566 of that number are individuals who carried out all their registration process at a physical centre
Diogo Jota has signed a new long-term contract with Liverpool that will keep him at the club until the summer of 2027.
The Portugal international was today, August 2, rewarded with a new five-year contract for his fine form since joining from Wolves back in 2020.
The 25-year-old netted 21 times in all competitions for the Reds last season, but he will face stiff competition for a place this term following the arrival of Darwin Nunez from Benfica.
Well, [I’m] really proud, I have to say,’ Jota told Liverpoolfc.com after signing his new contract.
‘Obviously, since I arrived two years ago I established myself as an important player in this team – that’s what I wanted from the beginning.
Now, signing a new long-term deal, it’s obviously from the club’s perspective proof of the belief in myself as a player. For me, obviously it’s really good to establish I’ll be here for a while.
‘So, the beginning of a new season, let’s do it.’
Jota, who has scored 34 goals in 85 appearances since joining Liverpool, has not featured in Liverpool’s pre-season matches due to a hamstring injury.
The forward is expected to miss out on Saturday’s Premier League opener on Saturday at newly-promoted Fulham.
‘Unfortunately for me I had an upset in this pre-season because I got injured [in the] last game of the season playing with Portugal,’ he added.
‘So I was coming back in this pre-season, I felt it a little bit again. So it will be a few more weeks, I would say.
‘When you fight for everything, like we did last year, you just want to do it again and to do it better, because it’s possible.
‘That drive is in me and I know it’s in my teammates and all the staff. We have everything to fight for those titles out there.’
Datti Baba Ahmed, vice presidential candidate of the Labour Party, has said that the party’s presidential candidate, Peter Obi, is not in support of the Indegenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and its activities.
Baba-Ahmed made this known when he appeared on Trust TV’s Daily Politics on Monday.
“I sharply disagree that Peter Obi is in support of IPOB because I wouldn’t be with him today (if he is),” he said.
He noted that those allegations are unsubstantiated.
He said, “It’s the same kind of interview they did for me when I said I want to be addressed for 2023 election as a Nigerian. There is nothing that people cannot say. Just this morning, I had to do a press conference to the multiplicity of fake news all around … those allegations are yet unsubstantiated.”
Baba-Ahmed added that before he agreed to be Obi’s running mate, he did all the investigations he could and nothing linked the former Anambra State governor to IPOB.
He said, “For example, they said Northerners were treated unfairly by being made to wear ID cards, before I decided to join Peter Obi’s ticket. Within weeks I did all the investigations I could. Mobile phones were already carrying cameras, I asked for and even offered some compensation ‘can I see just one picture of anybody who stood and said that while Peter Obi was governor in Anambra State, he made me to wear this?’ and there was none.
“And I should sit down and believe reckless people who just talk anyhow because you’ve come out in politics when I know the kind of politics that we play.”
There was palpable tension in Abeokuta, Ogun State, on Sunday, following the arrest of a suspected Boko Haram leader.
The suspect was arrested by the operatives of the Department of State Security Service (DSS).
The suspected Boko Haram leader was arrested at Ijaye area of Abeokuta.
However, the suspect initially put up a resistance before bowing to the superior power of DSS operatives.
Also, the operation was carried out at night.
The suspected terrorist reportedly arrived in Abeokuta from Katsina, took up security job at Ijaye, while gathering intelligence for terrorist attacks.
Security source said he moved to Abeokuta to set up terrorists’ cell for kidnapping and terror attacks.
And following intelligence gathering , the gun-wielding security operatives stormed his hideout and picked him up.
“It was not an easy ride. Intelligence and the grace of God were sufficient for the operatives. There are still many of them around, but we are on top of our game,” the source said.
Our correspondent gathered that suspect is still in the DSS custody.
The development comes amid the reports of the the alleged plan of terrorists to attack some states in the South West.
When contacted, the DSS Spokesman, Dr Peter Afunanya, neither denied nor confirmed the arrest.
“No comment,” he said while responding to a text message from our correspondent.
The Police Public Relations Officers in the state, Abimbola Oyeyemi, said he was not aware of any arrest
The 2023 presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and former Vice Vice President of Nigeria, Atiku Abubakar has made a fresh appointment.
Naija News reports Atiku appointed Ms. Lynne Bassey as Special Assistant on Gender Issues and Women Advancement.
The appointment is in furtherance of his commitment to women and youths empowerment, his media adviser, Paul Ibe told our newsroom via a mailed statement on Monday.
The statement noted that “Ms. Bassey is an alumnus of both University of Calabar where she is currently pursuing a Doctorate degree in Development Sociology and the Pan Atlantic University, Lagos Business School.
“Her appointment as Special Assistant will make the fifth to be announced by the PDP presidential candidate in the past few weeks.”
It added that “Ms. Bassey’s appointment is in keeping with the promise by Atiku Abubakar to reserve a good percentage of his appointment, if elected President, for women and youths.”
The Association of Bureaux De Change Operators of Nigeria (ABCON), has advised the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to abolish its official exchange rates even though it is cheaper when compared to Black Market rates.
This, it argued, would give the local currency strength against the dollar.
The naira in recent times has continued to fall against the Dollar in the black market, hitting an all-time low of N718/$1 at the weekend.
On Friday at the P2P market, it depreciated against the United States Dollar by N16 to sell for N736/$1 compared with the previous day’s exchange rate of N720/$1.
Also, the Nigerian currency lost N2.80 or 0.66 per cent against the greenback in the Investors and Exporters (I&E) window of the FX market as it closed at N429/$1 in contrast to Thursday’s value of N426.20/$1.
In the parallel market, the local currency had a breather as it appreciated against the US Dollar for the first time in some days by N5 to trade at N705/$1 compared with the previous day’s N710/$1.
In the interbank segment, the Naira lost N2.48 against the Pound Sterling to sell for N504.21/£1 versus the preceding day’s N501.73/£1 and against the Euro, it gained 86 Kobo to settle at N421.32/€1 in contrast to the N422.19/€1 it closed on Thursday.
Alhaji Aminu Gwadabe, the President of ABCON, who made this known, maintained that if the central bank is serious about addressing the consistent depreciation of the naira against the dollar, it needs to do all it takes within its power to sustainably inject the dollar into the market.
“It might sound counterintuitive, but the way out of the current frenzy is to abolish the official fixed exchange rate and allow the Naira to float. CBN should contemporaneously undertake a large-scale dollar intervention in the open market that can inspire confidence in the Naira and checkmate the current tailspin.
“Once there is a significant positive movement, the market will react and, in all probability, spur an avalanche of panic selling and further buoy the Naira,” Gwadabe said as he argued that the loss in the value of the local currency is reversible.
Arsenal striker, Folarin Balogun is set to join French club Reims on a season-long loan deal.
The 21-year-old Nigerian striker signed a new four-year contract last April which runs until 2025 and remains a part of manager Mikel Arteta’s long-term plans. But the club is willing to let him leave on loan to aid his development with regular football having bolstered their frontline with the signing of Gabriel Jesus from Manchester City.
According to Fabrizio Romano, Folarin Balogun is inching closer to signing for Reims in Ligue 1, despite having offers from Premier League clubs. The Gunners will let the 21-year-old forward depart on a loan deal as competition for places at the Emirates remains high.
Balogun has made 10 appearances for Arsenal, though two have been starts, and scored twice.
He also spent the second half of last season on loan at Middlesbrough and has scored six times in 11 appearances for England under-21s.
Russia has banned 39 senior British politicians, businesspeople and journalists from entering the country, including the Labour party leader, Keir Starmer, the former prime minister David Cameron and media personality, Piers Morgan.
The UK has been one of Kyiv’s most loyal supporters after Russian president Vladimir Putin sent troops to start attack Ukraine on February 24,
Russia’s foreign ministry said the citizens listed, most of whom were politicians, government employees and journalists, ‘contribute to the hostile course of London aimed at the demonisation of our country and its international isolation’.
‘The choice in favour of confrontation is the conscious decision of the British political establishment, which bears all responsibility for the consequences,’ the ministry added.
Moscow has banned several dozen British citizens, mostly politicians and journalists from entering Russia since the start of its military campaign in Ukraine.
The new additions include several Labour MPs, Scottish politicians and members of the House of Lords.
Meanwhile, the likes of Jonathan Munro, the head of the BBC’s newsgathering, BBC News presenter Huw Edwards and ITV’s political editor Robert Peston joined Piers Morgan on the list of British media figures now blacklisted.
Reacting to ban, Morgan wrote on Twitter: ‘[Russia] wasn’t on my vacation to-do list.’
Russia’s foreign ministry said it would keep adding to the list which now includes more than 200 prominent Britons.
‘Given London’s destructive drive to spin the sanctions flywheel on far-fetched and absurd pretexts, work on expanding the Russian stop-list will continue,’ it said in a statement.
This is the latest list of 39 high profile British citizens which the Russian foreign ministry today announced had been blacklisted in Moscow:
David Cameron, former British Prime Minister;
George Robertson, member of the House of Lords of the Parliament of Great Britain;
Angus Robertson, Scottish Cabinet Secretary for the Constitution, Europe and External Relations;
Fiona Hyslop, Scottish Cabinet Secretary for Economic, Labour and Cultural Affairs;
Keir Starmer, member of the House of Commons of the British Parliament, leader of the Labour Party of Great Britain;
David Lammy, Deputy of the House of Commons of the Parliament of Great Britain from the Labour Party, the ‘shadow’ Minister for Foreign Affairs of Great Britain;
Lisa Nandy, Deputy of the House of Commons of the Parliament of Great Britain from the Labor Party, ‘shadow’ Minister for Social and Economic Development of Regions and Housing;
Wendy Morton, Deputy Minister for Transport, UK;
Ian Blackford, member of the House of Commons of the British Parliament, leader of the Scottish National Party faction;
Nick Thomas-Symonds, Deputy of the House of Commons of the British Parliament from the Labor Party, ‘shadow’ Minister for International Trade;
Kate Forbes, Minister for Finance and Economics, Scottish Government;
Lorna Slater, Member of the Scottish Parliament for the Greens;
Ross John Greer, Scottish MP for the Green Party;
Alexander Cole-Hamilton, Member of the Scottish Parliament, leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats;
Neil Charles Gray, Minister for Europe and International Development for Scotland;
Laurence Lee, Second Permanent Undersecretary of Defense of Great Britain;
Bate Toms, head of the British-Ukrainian Chamber of Commerce;
Donald Wilson, Edinburgh City Councilor;
Peter Ricketts, Member of the House of Lords of the UK Parliament;
James Paul Gray, Member of the House of Commons of the UK Parliament from the Conservative Party;
Paul Khan, partner at Renaissance Strategic Advisors;
Clive Roads, founder of Royal Consulting;
Christopher Samuel, founder of Christopher Samuel Associates;
Anthony Whelan, Science Adviser, UK Department of Defence;
Huw Walters, Head of Economic Security at the UK Department of Defence;
Liam Fox, Member of the House of Commons of the UK Parliament from the Conservative Party;
Helen Bower Easton, Foreign Office Spokesperson;
David Aaronovich, columnist for The Times;
Dan Sabbagh, War News Editor, The Guardian;
James Crisp, European News Editor, Daily Telegraph;
David Rose, freelance journalist;
Caroline Wheeler, Political Editor, The Sunday Times;
John Riley, head of Sky News;
Jonathan Charles Munro, Head of BBC News;
Edward William Robert Carr, associate editor of The Economist;
Jerome Donald Starkey, military columnist for The Sun;
Edo State Government will be embarking on recruitment of forest police following the documentation and audit of the state’s forests.
Crusoe Osagie, Special Adviser, Media Project to Governor Godwin Obaseki, who made the announcement on Monday August 1, said the recruitment is part of a renewed effort to enhance security across the state.
Osagie said the state government in partnership with relevant stakeholders is strengthening the security architecture and adopting various measures to sustain security in the state, including bush combing, registration of motorbikes and marketplaces, signing of the anti-grazing laws, and residents’ registration, among others.
The statement;
“The responsibility of any government in any society is to guarantee the security and safety of the people. No government can call itself a government if it cannot protect and secure the lives of the people that it oversees.
“That is why for us in Edo, given what is going on in the country today, we have decided that security is now our number one priority. In the area of our forests, we have completed documentation and audit of all our forests in Edo State, particularly in Edo South.
“We have done a flyover of all our forests and as we speak, we have set up a new forestry commission. Our forestry laws that have not been updated in more than 50 years now have been updated. And part of the provisions of the law is that we will now re-energise the institution of forest guards.
“We are currently in discussion with the Federal Ministry of Environment and some other stakeholders to begin the recruitment of the first set of the new forest police as we will call them to support the activities of all the other security agencies.
“In terms of squatters in markets, we are going to enforce the local government laws which stipulate that it is only the local government that is entitled to register markets and shut down illegal markets.
“Any place where trading is currently taking place today and such a place has not been registered will be immediately shut down.”
California Gov. Gavin Newsom has declared a state of emergency in response to the monkeypox outbreak, becoming the second state in three days to take the step.
Governor Gavin Newsom said the declaration will help California coordinate a government-wide response, seek more vaccines and lead outreach and education efforts on where people can get treatment and vaccination.
“We’ll continue to work with the federal government to secure more vaccines, raise awareness about reducing risk, and stand with the LGBTQ community-fighting stigmatisation,” Mr. Newsom said in a statement announcing his declaration.
“Public health officials are clear: stigma is unacceptable and counterproductive in public health response,” Michelle Gibbons, executive director of the County Health Executives Association of California said in a statement. “The fact is that monkeypox is primarily spread by skin to skin contact and sharing objects like bedding or towels, without regard to sexual orientation or gender identity.”
The type of monkeypox virus identified in this outbreak is rarely fatal, and people usually recover within weeks. But the lesions and blisters caused by the virus are painful, and they can prevent swallowing or bowel movements if in the throat or anus.
The declaration in California came after a similar one in New York state on Saturday, and in San Francisco on Thursday. Mr. Newsom’s administration had said as recently as Friday that it was too soon for such a declaration.
Mr. Newsom’s proclamation allows emergency medical personnel to administer monkeypox vaccines that are approved by the federal government.
California has received more than 61,000 vaccine doses and has distributed more than 25,000 doses.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has alerted Nigerians of the existence of a fake online site urging Nigerians to enroll for “voter card pvc” registration.
This comes barely 24 hours after INEC announced the suspension of voter registration across the country.
The fake online portal claimed that the Federal Government has approved PVC registration online to avoid the unnecessary crowd in the “NIMC”.
INEC warned that the site is not linked to the Commission and the link/portal is spurious and from a dubious source.
The Commission said INEC is the only body constitutionally and legally mandated to conduct the registration of persons qualified to vote in any election in Nigeria and to update and revise the register when the need arises.
It reiterated that the Commission is solely responsible for organizing, undertaking, and supervising national elections in the country and does not share this responsibility with anybody or organization.
The Commission said it has concluded the Continuous Voter Registration exercise nationwide and does not need to open an additional site or portal for the purposes of registration of voters.
The United States has killed an al Qaeda leader, Ayman al-Zawahiri in a strike in Afghanistan over the weekend, the biggest blow to the terrorist group since its founder Osama bin Laden was killed in 2011.
Zawahiri, an Egyptian surgeon who had a $25 million bounty on his head, helped coordinate the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people in New York.
Zawahiri died after a U.S. drone strike in the Afghan capital Kabul at 6:18 a.m. (0148 GMT) on Sunday.
Reacting to the incident, U.S president, Joe Biden said; “Now justice has been delivered, and this terrorist leader is no more,” Biden, said in remarks from the White House on Monday night, August 1.
“No matter how long it takes, no matter where you hide, if you are a threat to our people, the United States will find you and take you out.”
Biden said Zawahiri had been the mastermind behind or played a key role in attacks on the USS Cole and U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.
“Zawahiri continued to pose an active threat to U.S. persons, interests and national security,” the official said on a conference call. “His death deals a significant blow to al Qaeda and will degrade the group’s ability to operate.”
U.S. intelligence determined with “high confidence” through multiple intelligence streams that the man killed was Zawahiri, one senior administration official told reporters. He was killed on the balcony of a “safe house” in Kabul that he shared with other members of his family. No other casualties occurred.
His death raises questions about whether Zawahiri received sanctuary from the Taliban following their takeover of Kabul in August 2021.
The drone attack is the first known U.S. strike inside Afghanistan since U.S. troops and diplomats left the country in August 2021 and happened without a military presence in the country.
In a statement, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid confirmed that a strike took place and strongly condemned it, calling it a violation of “international principles.”
Zawahiri succeeded bin Laden as Al Qaeda leader after years as its main organizer and strategist, but his lack of charisma and competition from rival militants Islamic State hobbled his ability to inspire spectacular attacks on the West.
Until the U.S. announcement, Zawahiri had been rumored variously to be in Pakistan’s tribal area or inside Afghanistan.
The United States identified this year that Zawahiri’s wife, daughter and her children had relocated to a safe house in Kabul, then identified that Zawahiri was there as well, the official said.
“Once Zawahiri arrived at the location, we are not aware of him ever leaving the safe house,” a US official said to Reuters.. He was identified multiple times on the balcony, where he was ultimately struck. He continued to produce videos from the house and some may be released after his death, the official said.
In the last few weeks, Biden convened officials to scrutinize the intelligence. He was updated throughout May and June and was briefed on July 1 on a proposed operation by intelligence leaders. On July 25 he received an updated report and authorized the strike once an opportunity was available, the administration official said.
Mr. Adegbenga Dada, who is a marine engineer and a prince from Eruku in Ekiti Local Government Area of Kwara State, has said his wife demands money before sex.
He said this in a suit filed before a Kwara High Court, sitting in Ilorin.
Dada is seeking the dissolution of his 28-year-old marriage to Roseline Dada over allegation of adultery.
He alleged that his wife is promiscuous and this has affected her domestic duties, adding that she had involved their female children by sending them on errands to collect money from her numerous male friends.
Adegbenga, who is from Kwara, but is based in Lagos, said: “My wife abandoned our bedroom and packed to the guest room. She would insist unless I issue cheque for substantial amount, she would not succumb to my sexual advances. Any failure to issue cheque will result in total denial.
“The marriage has broken down because my wife and I are no longer able to sit down together to discuss about our lives and that of our children.”
He also prayed the court to grant him custody of the three children produced by the union.
Roseline in her response denied the allegations while accusing her husband of adultery.
She, however, said that she was not opposed to the dissolution of the marriage but prayed the court to grant her part ownership of their Lagos building which she said was a joint project executed by her and the petitioner.
During the trial, the petitioner through his counsel, Mr. Josiah Adebayo, said the nude pictures of the respondent with a lover retrieved from her phone was to add to the weight of the evidence and not to ridicule her.
Delivering her judgement, Justice S.T Abdulqadri granted the dissolution of the marriage, saying she found the evidence presented before the Court on the allegations of adultery against the respondent to be true.
She held that the respondent, Mrs. Dada had no joint ownership of a Lagos state residential property with the petitioner.
The court did not however grant the custody of the three children of the 28 years old marriage to any of the parties, as it held that the children are adults who are above 20 years of age.
A Russian tank commander who became the first Vladimir Putin’s soldier to be jailed for war crimes in Ukraine has seen his life sentence reduced to 15 years on appeal.
During the opening days of the war, Vadim Shishimarin, 21, shot dead 62-year-old Oleksandr Shelipov in cold blood in Ukraine’s northern Sumy region.
He was later captured and brought to Kyiv for trial, where he pleaded guilty to war crimes charges back in May.
But his lawyers were able to appeal, saying the sentence was unduly harsh given he had admitted wrongdoing and was acting on the orders of a superior.
Today, an appeals court in the Ukrainian capital agreed and cut the penalty to 15 years. Viktor Ovsyannikov, Shishimarin’s lawyer, had been asking for 10 years.
Ovsyannikov said it is highly likely that Shishimarin will at some point be traded back to Russia in a prisoner swap.
Mr. Shelipov had been pushing his bike along a road in the Ukrainian village of Chupakhivka when he encountered Shishimarin and men from his unit, who were riding in a stolen civilian car.
Fearing that Mr. Shelipov, a veteran of the Soviet military – was going to report their location to Ukrainian forces, Shishimarin’s superiors ordered him to kill the man.
He fired several shots at Mr. Shelipov’s head from an automatic rifle, killing him.
Russia has denied targeting civilians or involvement in war crimes.
During the trial, Shishimarin told the court that he shot Oleksandr as he and several other Russian soldiers were retreating and trying to rejoin their units in Russia.
The soldiers found a civilian car, a Volkswagen, which they hijacked. ‘We wanted to get to where our army was and go back to Russia,’ Shishimarin said.
‘On our way as we were driving, we saw a man. He was talking on the phone. He said he would give us up.’
Shishimarin said another Russian soldier in the car, who he said was not his commander and who he called an ‘unknown’ soldier, ‘told me to shoot.’
‘He started to say in a forceful tone that I should shoot,’ he told the court. He said that I make up a danger if I don’t. I shot him at short range. It killed him.’
Oleksandr’s wife Kateryna Shelypova had confronted Shishimarin in the Kyiv court and asked him what he felt when he killed her husband.
‘Tell me what did you feel when you killed my husband? Do you repent of this crime,’ Kateryna asked the former soldier on Thursday as he stood in the dock, looking straight ahead.
‘I admit my guilt. I understand you can’t forgive me. I ask forgiveness,’ he said.
Kateryna added: ‘Tell me please, why did you come here? To protect us? From whom? From my husband who you killed?’
Kateryna told the court that her husband was a tractor driver who was not carrying a weapon and was dressed in civilian clothes, according to quotes from Ukrainian journalist Daria Sipigina.
Kateryna said she was in her garden when she heard shots being fired, and ran out calling for her husband before seeing Shishimarin with a Kalashnikov.
He drove away with the rest of his squad, leaving her to discover her husband’s dead body lying on the side of the road.
‘The loss of my husband is everything for me. He was my protector,’ she said.
Nigeria’s electoral body, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has revealed the dates the Permanent Voters Cards (PVCs) would be available for collection by Nigerians.
According to the INEC National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee, Festus Okoye, PVCs for persons captured in the ongoing Continuous Voters Registration (CVR) in the country would be ready between October and November.
Festus Okoye, disclosed this while monitoring the concluding segment of the ongoing CVR in Awka, Anambra on Saturday, July 30.
He reaffirmed that the exercise would end on Sunday.
He said: “INEC has to bring the exercise to a close, to enable the commission to cross check data collated.
“This will enable our system operators to eliminate double and multiple registrations before we produce the PVCs for distribution.
“The law equally requires that we should display the register in the 774 Local Government Areas and 8, 809 registration areas for claims and objections.
“And we have to print the PVCs, truck them to all the local government areas across the country for collection.”
He said the PVCs for eligible voters who registered between January and June would be ready in October, while those who registered from July 1 to July 31 would collect theirs in November.
“At least 276, 767 persons had completed their registration as of July 25.
“The commission deployed a total of 110 INEC Voters Enrollment Devices (IVED) in the state out of which 10 malfunctioned,” the national commissioner added.
