Nigeria president will no longer travel abroad for medicals – Aisha Buhari (Guardian)
The First Lady, Aisha Buhari, has stated that the newly inaugurated 21 billion Presidential Wing of the State House Medical Centre will eliminate the need for future presidents and their families to seek medical treatment abroad.
Aisha stated this when she joined President Muhammadu Buhari and other dignitaries for the commissioning ceremony of the facility situated on the premises of the presidential villa in Abuja on Friday.
According to the first lady, she was the first to nurture the idea of a presidential wing in 2017, following her husband’s lengthy stay in London for medical treatment. Read more
Drama in court as senior lawyer interrupts LP proceedings (Punch)
There was a brief confusion in court as a Senior Advocate of Nigeria who is not a part of the Labour Party’s team of lawyers announced an appearance for the party on Friday.
The panel of Justices who denied him recognition criticized the senior advocate who did not mention his name for attempting to stir up confusion adding that ” He should know better” following his excuse that “He was given a brief to appear.”
Meanwhile, while the matter was called and before the drama, the presidential candidate of the LP, Peter Obi announced an appearance for himself and on behalf of the Labour Party. Read more
Security Forces rescue 2 abducted US Embassy staff in Anambra (Leadership)
The Anambra State Police Command has rescued two individuals who were kidnapped during Tuesday’s attack on the US Consulate Convoy in Ogbaru Local Government Area of the State.
The spokesman for the Anambra State Police Command, DSP Ikenga Tochukwu, disclosed that the rescue took place in the early hours of Friday.
According to him, a joint security force rescued, unhurt, the two victims abducted during the attack on a US convoy along Atani/Osamela road in Ogbaru. Read more
Peter Obi to US: Allow court decide winner of presidential election (Vanguard)
The presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi has reacted to the recent telephone conversation between the United States Secretary of State, Antony Blinken and Nigeria’s President-elect, Bola Tinubu.
Obi said the US should respect the principles of law and democracy by allowing the courts of law in Nigeria to decide who the winner of the 2023 presidential election conducted on February 25.
The former Anambra governor said this on Friday in a thread of tweets describing Blinken and Tinubu’s conversation as “unclear.” Read more
Police arrest man in possession of human parts in Lagos State (Guardian)
The Lagos State Police Command has arrested a man named, Monday Alfred, for allegedly being in possession of human parts.
The suspect was apprehended by a police patrol team during a stop and search along Ori-okuta old Shagamu road in Imota on Wednesday, May 17.
The suspect and his accomplice were spotted on a motorcycle speeding towards Shagamu from Imota, but when the police stopped them for a search, both men jumped down and fled into the bush. Read more
Robbers on the rampage as Lagos collapsed bridge causes gridlock (Punch)
Armed men have started seizing the opportunity of the gridlock being caused by the collapsed section of the Ijora-Olopa Bridge in Lagos to dispossess unsuspecting motorists and passers-by of their valuables.
PUNCH Metro reports that a portion of the bridge caved in on Tuesday and traffic was quickly diverted to the other lane.
The diversion, it was learnt, led to gridlock on the road.
Our correspondents who visited the area on Thursday gathered that hoodlums had been attacking motorists inside the gridlock, especially towards the evening. Read more
Otti calls for calm over candidacy nullification by Kano court (Punch)
Abia State Governor-elect, Dr Alex Otti has advised the state residents to keep calm on his alleged dismissal by a Federal High Court sitting in Kano State.
The PUNCH had earlier reported that Otti’s candidacy and that of other Labour Party members in Abia and Kano states were nullified by a judge due to non-compliance with the provisions of the 2022 electoral act.
The judge ruled that the party’s failure to submit its membership register to the INEC within 30 days before their primaries made the process null and void. Read more
Money Laundering: Appeal Court dismisses ruling against EFCC probe of Yahaya Bello’s govt (Channels)
The Appeal Court, Abuja Division, has set aside the injunction granted by the High Court of Kogi State restraining the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, from the investigation and prosecution of officials of the state.
The EFCC had, on Tuesday, February 7, 2023, filed a motion before the Appellate Court, asking for a stay of execution of the judgment of the Kogi State High Court in Suit No: HCL/696/2022 between Kogi State Government and the Commission, and Others delivered on December 12, 2022 as well as the consequential order made on the February 6, 2023.
In a unanimous judgment delivered on Thursday, May 18, 2023, the Appellate Court dismissed the preliminary objection of the Kogi State Government and also held that the ex-parte order of the trial court was “unlawful.” Read more
Missy Elliott and Atlantic Records to be honoured by National Museum of African American Music (Billboard)
Hip-hop icon Missy Elliott and Atlantic Records will be honored at the National Museum of African American Music’s Celebration of Legends on June 2 at the museum in Nashville.
Elliott is scheduled to attend, as are Mya, one of the artists on the all-star remake of “Lady Marmalade” which Elliott produced; and Sylvia Rhone, chairwoman/CEO of Epic Records, who became senior vice president and general manager of Atlantic Records in 1986 and who worked with Elliott when she headed eastwest Records.
Previous honorees include Lionel Richie, Chaka Khan, Quincy Jones, Smokey Robinson and the Fisk Jubilee Singers. Read more
Miley Cyrus On Finding Her Peace – And Making The Album Of The Summer (Vogue)
Miley Cyrus explodes into the room in a black Saint Laurent slip dress, a two-foot Gucci beefeater-style hat on her head.
“Is it sickening,” she demands rhetorically, her delicious southern rasp familiar in a way only a squillion light years of celebrity living can make it. In her thrall, festooned around the suite on the 33rd floor of The Ritz-Carlton New York, NoMad, sit her travelling chorus of creatives, the indispensable “comfort blanket” of five men who embody the sort of modern Hollywood bohemia she adores, and who accordingly she goes everywhere with. They offer consensus: yes. Just to be sure she struts the room wall-to-wall, eyes darting.
Cyrus – now 30 (how is she only 30?), with several lifetimes of glory, nonsense, trauma and good times under her belt – is in showgirl mode. For the moment, at least. My word, she’s a gas. Read more
Jason Momoa is glad that Fast X resisted showdown temptation (FilmNews)
Jason Momoa is pleased that ”Fast X” withheld a dramatic showdown between himself and Vin Diesel.
The 43-year-old actor plays sadistic villain Dante Reyes in the new ”Fast and Furious” movie and is pleased that film bosses held back on a confrontation between Dante and Vin’s character Dominic Toretto.
Jason told Screen Rant: “We had a big fight scene planned for me and (Dom), and we’ve seen that we’ve done that. They don’t need to get into the showdown of fighting each other. Read more
Sean Penn supports writers strike during Cannes movie premiere (UPI)
Sean Penn advocated for the Writers Guild of America while at the Cannes Film Festival to promote his new film, “Black Flies”.
Writers Guild members are on strike, which has had an immediate impact on the film and TV industry by shutting down late-night TV shows, which are written the day of, and impacting future productions.
“The industry has been upending the writers and directors for a long time,” Penn said at a press junket for the film. “I fully support the situation with the Writers Guild, of course.” Read more
Morrissey pays tribute to his late Smiths band mate Andy Rourke (AbsoluteRadio)
Morrissey has paid tribute to his former Smiths band mate Andy Rourke following his death from pancreatic cancer aged 59.
Johnny Marr broke the sad news of Andy Rourke’s passing this morning (19th May) following his lengthy battle with cancer.
“Andy will be remembered as a kind and beautiful soul by those who knew him and as a supremely gifted musician by music fans,” Marr wrote. Read more
Italy’s ex-PM Berlusconi discharged from hospital after six weeks (AlJazeera)
Italy’s ex-Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has been discharged from a hospital in Milan, where he was admitted more than six weeks ago suffering from a lung infection linked to leukaemia.
The 86-year-old billionaire media mogul left the San Raffaele Hospital on Friday without making any comments.
Italian media showed footage and pictures of Berlusconi being driven away in a dark limousine smiling and waving to reporters waiting outside the hospital shortly after 1pm (11:00 GMT). Read more
New York limousine operator convicted of crash that killed 20 (BBC)
A limousine operator in New York has been convicted of manslaughter for a 2018 wreck that killed 20 people.
Nauman Hussain, 33, the former service manager for Prestige Limousine, now faces up to 15 years in prison.
Prosecutors said Hussain failed to conduct routine inspections on the stretch-style 2001 Ford Excursion. His lawyers blamed mechanics for the crash.
It was America’s deadliest transport crash since 2009, officials said at the time. Read more
Aruna gets easy draw at Durban classic (Punch)
Aruna Quadri has been drawn against Romanian, Ovidiu Ionescu, in the preliminary round of the men’s singles of the 2023 ITTF World Championships Finals billed for Durban, South Africa, The PUNCH reports.
The 2023 World Championships Finals holds from May 20 to 28.
It’s been 84 years since the World Championships Finals were held in Africa, making this event a historic milestone for the sport.
Quadri, who is the highest-ranked African player and 12th in the world number 12, will be raring to get a step further at the tournament, having fallen short at the recently-concluded ITTF Africa Cup in Kenya. Read more
Napoli to insert release clause in Osimhen’s new contract (Nation)
Napoli is currently keen on making sure that they add a release clause in a new contract for Victor Osimhen.
Marco Conterio has reported that the Partenopei are drawing up a strategy to hand Osimhen a new deal to keep him at the club for another summer. The clubs interested, as per the report, are Bayern Munich, Chelsea, Manchester United, Tottenham and Arsenal, but the fee demanded by Napoli isn’t something those clubs can afford.
In the beginning of June, Napoli will have a meeting with the entourage of the Nigerian striker to know if any club has managed to meet the asking price for the player or not. Aurelio de Laurentiis will then present his idea to the entourage. Read more
Hodgson fears Zaha won’t play again this season but hopes he stays at Crystal Palace (Football365)
Roy Hodgson feels Wilfried Zaha is unlikely to play again for Crystal Palace this season because of injury, but hopes he will opt to stay on at the club.
The 30-year-old suffered a hamstring problem during last week’s win over Bournemouth and is expected to miss both the trip to Fulham and the final match of the campaign against Nottingham Forest at Selhurst Park.
The Ivory Coast international is out of contract in the summer, but Palace are keen for their talisman forward to agree a new deal, reported to be worth around £200,000 a week. Read more
Brentford goalkeeping coach and Nottingham Forest groundsman suspended (BBC)
Brentford’s goalkeeping coach and a member of Nottingham Forest’s ground staff have each received bans following a pre-match altercation in November.
Brentford’s Manu Sotelo has been suspended for one match and received a £2,000 fine after accepting his behaviour was “improper”.
Forest’s grounds manager Ewan Hunter denied the charge but was fined £700 and given a two-match stadium ban. Read more
Jon Jones hits back at Tyson Fury after The Gypsy King’s X-rated rant at Joe Rogan (DailyMail)
Tyson Fury has called for Jon Jones to challenge him in the boxing ring as the war of words between the pair continues to escalate.
The exchange started after Joe Rogan claimed that UFC heavyweight champion Jones would beat Fury in a hypothetical fight.
Jones then admitted that WBC heavyweight champion Fury would triumph in the ring but stated that he would get the better of The Gypsy King if they clashed in the cage. Read more
Cole’s double-bogey hands DeChambeau PGA lead (France24)
A double-bogey for US rookie Eric Cole on Friday morning left Bryson DeChambeau as leader of the PGA Championship after the completion of the opening round.
When darkness halted play Thursday at Oak Hill, Cole was 5-under one shot better off than clubhouse leader DeChambeau, but plunked his first shot Friday into a creek on the way to a double bogey at the par-4 sixth hole.
World number 122 Cole, a back-nine starter, then missed a birdie putt from just inside six feet at the seventh, made a six-foot par putt at the eighth and parred the ninth to share second place after 18 holes. Read more