3 die as Lagos ministry, police, hoodlums demolish 200 buildings (Punch)
Hundreds of landlords and residents have been rendered homeless after officials of the Lagos State Ministry of Physical Planning and Urban Development alongside security agents and hoodlums demolished about 200 buildings at Oke-Ira community, in the Igbogbo Bayeku Local Council Development Area of the state.
During the 10-hour demolition exercise, three landlords reportedly died from shock.
No fewer than eight landlords, who were also traumatised by the incident, were said to be recuperating in different hospitals.
PUNCH Metro gathered that normal activities were ongoing when the government team stormed the community with three bulldozers around 10 am, when some of the landlords and residents had gone to their workplaces. Read more
TB Joshua’s wife receives commendation for sustaining Synagogue (Guardian)
Friends and well-wishers have showered praises and commendations on Pastor Evelyn Joshua for sustaining the legacy of her husband and founder of the Synagogue Church of All Nations (SCOAN), Prophet Temitope Balogun Joshua, to celebrate one year anniversary of his demise.
Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu; his Ondo State counterpart, Rotimi Akeredolu; top government officials and prominent citizens within and outside Nigeria converged on the church auditorium yesterday to mark the anniversary of Prophet TB Joshua.
A museum and foundation were unveiled in his memory as the wife said it was the late Prophet’s wish to inaugurate the projects.
In her keynote address, the Leader of SCOAN, Pastor Evelyn, said the life of her late husband taught her patience and forgiveness, while her love for him was tried as she fought for love and attention during his ministry. Read more
NDLEA intercepts drug consignments, arrests 9 at Lagos, Abuja Airports (Leadership)
Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), have intercepted large consignments of assorted illicit substances at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja and the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos.
This is even as the anti-narcotics agency also arrested nine suspects in connection to the movement of the illicit drugs.
In a related development, a 35-year-old physically challenged lady, Kasarachi Onumajuru, who was hiding under her condition to deal in drugs in Umudumaonu community, Mbaitoli local government area of Imo State, was also arrested on Sunday May 29.
NDLEA spokesperson, Femi Babafemi, said first on the list of the 11 suspects arrested in connection to seizures at the two airports was Ofor Chima Chileobi, who had on Friday, May 20 attempted to export 200 blocks of cannabis sativa to Dubai, UAE. The substance weighing 30.20kg was concealed in 40 sacks of bitter leaf through the SAHCO export shed, a cargo wing of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Ikeja, Lagos. Read more
Police demote corporal to constable for cultism (Sun)
The Nigeria Police Force has approved the punishment of reduction in rank from Corporal to Constable for Isaac Mathew attached to the Ebonyi State Police Command.
The officer was caught in a viral TikTok video on May 7, 2022, dressed in full police uniform while singing, dancing and brandishing an AK47 rifle in praise of a secret confraternity.
According to Force Public Relations Officer (FPRO), CSP Olumuyiwa Adejobi,” the decision followed the outcome of the Orderly Room Trial of the concerned officer and a review of the recommended punishment for the offences of Discreditable Conduct, Promoting Secret Cults and violation of the Social Media Policy (SMP) of the Nigeria Police Force.
“The Force is currently looking into many other disciplinary cases of unprofessionalism and misconduct by officers in encounters with members of the public. Meanwhile, orderly room trials are ongoing and decisions reached at the end of such trials will be made known as the current police administration is committed to a transparent, accountable and proactive policing system in Nigeria. Read more
Kumuyi has transformed many lives, Buhari hails cleric at 81 (Punch)
The President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), has congratulated the Founder and General Superintendent of Deeper Christian Life Ministry, Pastor William Kumuyi, ahead of the cleric’s 81st birthday on Monday.
In a statement by the president’s Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, on Sunday, Buhari hailed Kumuyi for transforming life through preaching and counseling.
The statement was titled, ‘President Buhari Rejoices With Pastor William Kumuyi At 81.’
The statement partly read, “President Buhari felicitates with the General Superintendent on the auspicious occasion, extolling him for his dedication to soul winning, preaching of the gospel and counselling, which has transformed many lives, and left an indelible mark on the growth of the nation. Read more
Explosion rocks church as gunmen kill over 50 during service in Ondo (Tribune)
Some gunmen on Sunday morning attacked St. Francis Catholic Church in Owo, headquarters of Owo Local Government Area of Ondo State, killing over 50 members of the congregation, during the church service.
It was gathered that no fewer than 50 corpses have been moved out of the church with many casualties lying at the Federal Medical Center, Owo, for medical attention.
According to a source, who explained that some gunmen invaded the church during service, and opened fire on the members of the church, killing no fewer than 50 people.
He explained that the congregation were caught unaware saying the casualty might be more as some worshippers who were taken to the hospital have given up. Read more
Tunde Bakare condemns Ondo church attack, demands justice (Punch)
The Serving Overseer of the Citadel Global Community Church, Pastor Tunde Bakare, has condemned what he described as the “mass murder” of worshippers at St Francis Catholic Church in Owo, Ondo State.
While commiserating with the families whose loved ones were murdered or wounded in the course of devotion and service to God, the cleric described the attack as an act of “unspeakable cruelty”.
Bakare, who is a presidential aspirant on the platform of ruling All Progressives Congress, said these in a statement on Sunday titled, ‘The Owo Massacre is an Assault on the Nigerian State – ‘Tunde Bakare’.
The cleric urged the security agencies to immediately investigate the killing and ensure the perpetrators pay for their crime. Read more
CIAPS announces Commonwealth Scholarships for Postgraduate Professional Studies (Independent)
The Lagos-based International Graduates School, the Centre for International, Advanced and Professional Studies (CIAPS), has announced a Commonwealth scholarship scheme for its 2022 Postgraduate Professional Studies.
The CIAPS Commonwealth Scholarships are part of the new CIAPS Scholarship programmes, which will directly benefit students entering postgraduate professional education in June 2022.
A statement issued in Lagos by the Centre Director, Prof Anthony Kila, said: “There are a total of Fifty (50) scholarships available, for qualifying students” adding that “each successful applicant can receive up to One Thousand Dollars towards his or her tuition fees at CIAPS for the duration of the postgraduate professional study. The scheme is aimed at aiding deserving and willing students with the burden of Tuition Fees.”
In order to be eligible to apply for this postgraduate professional programme, applicants must: Read more
The Short finale: AMAA, StarTimes splash $7,000 on four filmmakers (Nation)
At least, the sum of $7,000 was splashed on four different filmmakers across Africa at the AMAA and StarTimes’ online short film festival, The Shorts.
The winners of the festival emerged from Nigeria, Uganda, and Ghana after their short films had been judged by a panel of established filmmakers.
Ugandan filmmaker Edmond Tamale’s ‘Ateker’ won the award for Best Documentary and a cash prize of $1000. Nigeria’s Frank Abasiekong also won the sum of $1000 and a Tecno Camon phone for his crime short film entitled Room 10. Ghana’s Frank Dzikunu emerged second with an animation entitled Sad story of Kojo. Dzikunu also won a Tecno Camon and a sum of $2000 while the winner of the festival award, Enobong Nkanta walked away with the sum of $3,000 alongside a brand new Lenovo laptop. She won the competition with her short film entitled Mama’s Song.
Present at the finale were Femi Odugbemi, Peace Anyiam-Osigwe, Tunde Kelani, Lucy Liu, Femi Adebayo, and Alex Jian. Read more
‘Selling Sunset’ wins Best Docu-Reality Series at MTV Movie & TV Awards (PageSix)
The cast of “Selling Sunset” has won Best Docu-Reality Series at the 2022 MTV Movie & TV Awards, Page Six can exclusively reveal.
Chrishell Stause, Heather Rae Young, Emma Hernan, Vanessa Villela and more stars from the hit Netflix series took the stage to accept their award alongside producer Adam DiVello.
The golden popcorn was a big win for “Selling Sunset,” as the show beat out “Jersey Shore: Family Vacation,” “Love & Hip Hop: Atlanta,” “Summer House” and “The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills.”
Stause is also nominated in the Best Reality Star category against Chris “CT” Tamburello (“The Challenge”), Lindsay Hubbard (“Summer House”), Teresa Giudice (“The Real Housewives of New Jersey”) and Willow Pill (“RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 14).
Additionally, Stause and “Selling Sunset” co-star Christine Quinn are up for Best Fight against Giudice and Margaret Josephs (“RHONJ”), Hubbard, Danielle Olivera and Ciara Miller (“Summer House”), Bosco and Lady Camden (“RuPaul’s Drag Race”) and Candiace Dillard Bassett and Mia Thornton (“The Real Housewives of Potomac”). Read more
Dwayne Johnson’s mother Ata sobs as actor surprises her with new home (Independent)
Dwayne Johnson’s mother broke down in tears as the actor surprised her with a new home.
In a clip shared to Instagram on Saturday (4 June) night, the actor filmed his 73-year-old mother Ata as she stepped inside her new home for the first time.
Ata was seen covering her mouth as her eyes welled up with tears, with Dwayne explaining that this was the most special house he had been able to buy his mother.
“Love you mom and surprise!” he wrote. “When I was a little boy, I hated when my mom would cry ~ these days, I’ll happily take her tears of joy. Read more
Documentary on Delhi’s fragile ecosystem swoops in to collect Cannes award (RFI)
India’s capital, New Delhi, is home to 20 million people and is one of the most polluted cities on the planet. Director Shaunak Sen is not afraid to highlight the drastic effect of air pollution on his beloved city and in particular on its fauna, from scavenging rats and dogs to birds in the sky.
Sen’s documentary “All that Breathes” – which won the L’Oeil d’Or for best documentary at the Cannes Film Festival – looks at the devastation that climate change has brought on living creatures, in particular birds of prey.
The film is both a testament of his love and a cry from the heart.
“It’s essentially about birds falling out of the sky, as a metaphor and symptom of ecological and social malaise,” he told RFI after the screening on 23 May. Read more
UK Grime Rapper Hypo stabbed to death during Queen’s jubilee celebration (HipHopDX)
The United Kingdom is celebrating the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee this weekend. To mark Queen Elizabeth II’s 70th year on the throne, an array of events are taking place in London, including a parade, flypast and star-studded party at Buckingham Palace.
Neighborhoods across the capital are also hosting over 3,000 street parties and readying feasts of coronation chicken sandwiches and trifles. But violence broke out during one particular party in the East London area of Redbridge on Saturday (June 4) when U.K. rapper Hypo was reportedly stabbed to death surrounded by “a large number of people.”
According to the BBC, emergency responders attempted to save his life at the scene, but he ultimately succumbed to his injuries. Scotland Yard is currently investigating the murder and asking for witnesses.
“I would urge anyone who is yet to speak with us to come forward and let us know what you saw,” Det Ch Insp Laurence Smith said. “Please take a look and call us. It is vital that we establish what happened.” Read more
Peter Gabriel to release first new album in 20 years this year, according to drummer (NME)
Peter Gabriel is to release his first new album in 20 years this year, before touring it in 2023, according to his drummer.
The news comes after Gabriel told NME last month that he’s “got a lot of songs I’m trying to get finished” and is “hoping to have something out by the end of the year.”
Speaking to L’Illustré in a new interview, Gabriel’s longtime drummer Manu Katché said the band are “finishing our new album” and will take it out on a world tour next year.
Back in 2020, Gabriel also spoke of progress on new music, telling Uncut: “I’m excited by what is being cooked at the moment — I have been slowed down quite a lot by lockdown, we’ve not been able to have Dickie my engineer here — but I have enough songs that I like to make a record I’m proud of.” Read more
Meghan and Harry ‘jet back to the States before Platinum Jubilee ends’ (Metro)
Harry and Meghan had already left the country by the time the Platinum Jubilee finale kicked off on Sunday, it has been reported.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex, along with children Archie, three, and one-year-old Lilibet, are thought to have left the county before the Queen surprised crowds outside Buckingham Palace.
They are believed to have left Frogmore Cottage at lunchtime and jetted out from Farnborough Airport, where they were picked up by one of the monarch’s cars last week, at 1.30 pm.
An insider is quoted by The Sun as saying: ‘There was no fanfare, they just went.’ Read more
Tom Hanks reveals the one very unusual reason he will never forget Sydney as he attends Elvis premiere (DailyMail)
Tom Hanks has revealed the one reason he and his family will never forget Sydney.
The two-time Oscar winning actor was back in the Harbour City for the premiere of his new movie Elvis when he spoke to host Lisa Wilkinson on the Sunday Project about his return Down Under.
‘Well let me tell you something about the city of Sydney – it’s very big in our family,’ began Hanks, who was standing alongside director Baz Luhrmann.
‘The notoriety of Sydney is quite frankly not only in the Hanks family, but around the world, because Sydney is where I caught Covid,’ he said, to laughter from the show’s panellists. Read more
Super Eagles begin training ahead Thursday’s clash with Sierra Leone (Guardian)
The Super Eagles have started training at the MKO Abiola Stadium, Abuja, in preparation for Thursday’s Africa Cup of Nations qualifier against Sierra Leone.
The Eagles returned to Nigeria on Friday after a two-game friendly tour of the United States, where they lost 1-2 to Mexico and 0-1 to Ecuador.
According to officials of the team, all the players listed for the qualifiers are already in town, but the trio of Joe Aribo, Calvin Bassey and Shehu Abdullahi did not take part in the evening’s training session, as they arrived late in the day.
According to the Eagles’ itinerary, the team will continue their preparation for the game with the training sessions opened to journalists today and tomorrow, while the squad will meet with journalists on Wednesday.
Thursday’s match will give Nigerians an insight into what to expect from the new technical crew led by Jose Peseiro, who was in charge of the games against Mexico and Ecuador. Read more
Arsenal given green light to complete Serge Gnabry return as transfer stance emerges (Mirror)
Real Madrid have no interest in signing Bayern Munich contract rebel Serge Gnabry, according to reports.
Gnabry has just one year remaining on his current deal at the Allianz, but has thus far failed to come to any agreement over an extension. Bayern president Herbert Hainer offered a glimpse into the ongoing negotiations, telling BILD : “We’ve been in talks with Serge for a long time, unfortunately there hasn’t been an agreement yet. There are a few different ideas. We’re working on that.”
But with talks at an impasse, the idea of the German international moving on during the summer window has been heavily mooted. Arsenal are the club most closely linked, with Mikel Arteta reportedly open to bringing the academy graduate back to North London.
Madrid were another side said to be in the race, but Marca claim that despite speculation, the European champions haven’t made an offer and don’t intend to in the coming weeks. The Spanish news outlet go as far to say that the ‘door is closed’ to a potential move for Gnabry, with Carlo Ancelotti happy with the options already at his disposal. Read more
Steven Bergwijn wants to leave Tottenham amid Ajax reports (Four Four Two)
Tottenham winger Steven Bergwijn has admitted he wants to leave Spurs this summer amid reports of a possible move to Ajax.
Bergwijn has seen his opportunities limited under Antonio Conte and was close to joining Ajax in the January transfer window, but ended up staying at Tottenham following his heroics in the dramatic late win over Leicester.
Those two goals deep into added time meant it was difficult for Spurs to move him on, but still he struggled for minutes in the latter part of the season.
“I’m at Oranje (the Dutch national team) now and then we’ll have a look,” he told AD while away on international duty. “It would be nice if there was clarity soon. I just have to go and play. Read more
French Open boss wants women’s tennis on a par with the men’s game by playing 5 sets (Express)
Roland Garros was hit with a sexism row when only one women’s match was staged in the new night sessions – and Mauresmo claimed it was because men’s tennis has “more appeal”. Billie Jean King has called for men’s matches to be reduced to three sets to prolong the careers of older players.
But former world No 1 Mauresmo, who won Wimbledon and the Australian Open, said: “They stopped playing the Masters Final in five sets just before I started playing in it and I was sad. I would have loved that. If you are one set down, you are a bit stuck. There are so many things that have to be factored in. And then you can say, Okay, it’s a best-of-five. It will give me more time.
“It would give me more time to roll out my game, perhaps to manage tension and stress. It’s a different match altogether compared to the other ones. So I thought about this 20 years ago. For the Masters or for the women’s Grand Slams, why not?
“Why not think about doing this one day? I think that women’s tennis would perhaps benefit from that, if it was the best-of-five. Read more
Hamilton warned that Wolff has ‘insurance policy’ if he decides to ditch Mercedes (Formula1News)
Racing driver Tom Coronel believes that Toto Wolff will have an ideal replacement in reserve driver Nyck de Vries should Sir Lewis Hamilton leave Formula 1 in the coming years.
De Vries won eight races in three years with a combination of Rapax, Prema and ART, winning the title in 2019.
The Dutchman had previously been a hugely promising member of the McLaren young drivers’ programme but, for one reason or another, never got his chance to truly show what he was capable of in F1.
He moved on to Formula E with the Mercedes EQ Formula E team in 2020, and won the 2021 championship, but has struggled slightly more this season, winning two races in Diriyah and Berlin. He crashed out of this weekend’s Jakarta ePrix after contact with Andre Lotterer. Read more
Mike Fratello chosen as Chuck Daly achievement award winner (USAToday)
Mike Fratello won everything from big games and to an Emmy award. He also won the respect of his peers.
Fratello was announced Sunday as this year’s recipient of the Chuck Daly Lifetime Achievement Award, presented by the National Basketball Coaches Association. He becomes the 17th winner of the award, which originated in 2009.
Fratello has been involved in the NBA in some capacity — assistant coach, head coach or broadcaster — since the late 1970s. He spent parts of 17 seasons as a head coach in Atlanta, Cleveland and Memphis, winning 667 regular-season games and 20 playoff contests, plus won an Emmy as best on-camera sports analyst in New York in 2015.
“Chuck Daly was a special man and a special coach — and this is a special award,” Fratello said. “It means so much to me because Chuck was a mentor, a close friend and a trusted confidant during my NBA coaching career and beyond. It is an honour to be recognized by my peers, whom I respect and admire.” Read more