Pastor injured, houses burnt as riot erupts in Bauchi (Independent)
Tension in Katangan area of Warji Local Government Area of Bauchi State on Saturday as irate youths reportedly burnt houses and injured a pastor over another case of alleged blasphemy.
According to the report, the blasphemy violence began when a message was circulated on social media that a Christian girl in the town allegedly engaged in blasphemy of Islam while reacting to the Sokoto State incident of Deborah Samuel.
A source, who spoke to our correspondent on the condition of anonymity, confirmed the incident, saying, “Yes, the incident is true. It is an aftermath of the incident of the alleged blasphemy that happened in Sokoto last week.
Speaking, he said, “What I learned was that a Christian girl allegedly posted and commented on something on social media which has to do with the incident in Sokoto and that was how it started. Read more
1 dead as building collapses in Lagos again (Punch)
One person has been confirmed dead after a two-storey building collapsed on the Lagos Island area of Lagos State.
The incident occurred Saturday afternoon, The PUNCH gathered.
It was learnt that the building was under construction before its collapse.
According to an eyewitness, the building collapsed after heavy rainfall at Freeman Road, Lagos Island. Read more
All is not lost, Bishop Odedeji tells Nigerians
(Nation)
The Diocesan Bishop of Lagos West, Anglican Communion, Right Reverend Dr. James Odedeji, has charged Nigerians to be hopeful and prayerful despite the prevailing circumstances.
He gave the charge at the second session of the 8th Synod of the Diocese held at the Archbishop Vining Memorial Church Cathedral, Ikeja Lagos on Friday.
Speaking on the Synod theme: “Dry bones will rise again,” Odedeji said the theme could refer to dreams, ambitions and aspirations that have been reduced to nothing.
“Hope is not lost even after a man has died. But when a dead man is buried, what do we say? Read more
Senate: Why I am contesting – Obanikoro (Sun)
A former Minister of State for Defence, Musiliu Obanikoro, has stated that he is running to represent Lagos West Senatorial District in order to secure a vantage bargaining chip for Lagos in the next dispensation.
In a statement signed by his campaign organisation yesterday, Obanikoro said his legislative and administrative experiences would help in attracting major infrastructural projects where unemployment can be addressed in the short and mid terms.
He expressed confidence that he would be able to lobby other legislators to achieve the long awaited special status for the state, address unemployment, more infrastructures and make Lagos security a focal national importance.
The statement reads in part: “With over 20 years of experience serving at all tiers of government, including the National Assembly as a Senator, I know how things work, I know how to navigate and get things done in Government which Lagos will benefit from from day one of my resuming office.
“My experience and capacity to get things done undoubtedly makes me the most viable candidate, however my vision and legislative plan for Lagos is one that I am equally proud of and confident Lagosians and the people of Lagos West Senatorial District will appreciate and approve. Read more
ASUU gives update on strike after FG’s payment of arrears (Punch)
The Academic Staff Union of Universities has insisted that its members won’t resume work despite the Federal Government’s payment of minimum wage arrears.
This was contained in a circular by the University of Lagos branch of the union titled, ‘Payment of minimum wage arrears’.
The chairman of UNILAG ASUU, Dele Ashiru, confirmed the authenticity of the circular to The PUNCH on Saturday.
Ashiru described the arrears payment as “long-overdue”, saying that the core demands of ASUU have not been met. Read more
62-year-old man drowns in Kwara well (DailyTrust)
The body of a 62-year-old man, identified as Ibrahim Tajudeen, has been recovered from a well in Ilorin, Kwara State.
It was gathered that the incident occurred behind Olayemi Hospital, off Airport road, Gbagba area, Ilorin around 8:00pm on Friday.
Residents told Daily Trust on Saturday that the deceased had been battling with mental issues before the incident.
“We were standing outside and saw him when he walked past toward the direction of the well. But nobody thought he had any ulterior motive. Read more
Alleged Blasphemy: CAN issues new protest strategy to churches (Independent)
The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) has given a new instruction to Christians and churches in Nigeria over the planned peaceful protest with regards to the gruesome murder of Deborah Samuel in Sokoto State.
The Umbrella Christian association had previously ordered a peaceful street protest to drive home their point for justice to prevail in the case of Deborah Samuel who was killed by her Muslim colleagues in Shehu Shagari College of Education over alleged blasphemy.
However, CAN in a statement signed by its National President, Rev Dr Samson Ayokunle on Saturday said it had gathered intelligent information that some Muslims were planning to organize a counter-protest and turn it into a violent protest.
To this end, Christians were ordered to protest within the safety of their various churches or CAN secretariat to avoid infiltration and possible violence. Read more
Nigerian Ambassador to Greece excited as Nollywood storms Athens (Tribune)
The Nigerian Ambassador to Greece, Opunimi Akinkugbe, is excited as plans are in top gear for the upcoming Nollywood Travel Film Festival (NTFF) taking place in Athens, the capital of Greece, from 26 – 29 May, 2022.
Within this period, the Greek audience is going to be introduced to Nollywood through Mykel Parish and the NTFF, taking place at the Harlem Theatre in Athens.
The NTFF Athen’s official film selection are: ‘Collision Course’ directed by Bolanle Austen-Peters; ‘Citation’ directed by Kunle Afolayan; ‘Eagle Wings’ directed by Paul Apel Papel, and ‘Lockdown’ directed by Moses Inwang.
Ambassador Akinkugbe and members of the Nigerian Embassy’s Film Festival Committee: Mr Felix Logo (Head, Consular); Mrs Patience Ochekwu (Head of Chancery); Ms Zerah Waminaje (Second Secretary); Mr Daniel Ayuba (Admin Attaché), and Ms Olga Papadopoulou (Social Secretary); recently met with Ms Violetta Kontodaimon of Showtime Productions, Greece, to discuss and finalise preparations for the festival. Read more
Buhari appoints Adeniran Statistician General of the Federation (ThisDay)
President Muhammadu Buhari yesterday approved the appointment of Semiu Adeyemi Adeniran as the Statistician General of the federation and chief executive officer of the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).
The appointment follows the death of Simon Harry who was in that position but died on April 13, 2022 of an undisclosed illness.
Adeniran’s appointment was contained in a statement by the Minister of State for Budget and National Planning, Mr. Clem Agba through his Special Assistant on Media, Mr. Sufyan Ojeifo.
According to the statement, Mr. Adeniran is a reputable professional statistician specialising in Demography and Social Statistics and has over 30 years of statistical hands-on experience garnered from various local and international institutions. Read more
City Girls’ JT reveals Megan Thee Stallion tried to warn her about wardrobe malfunction (HipHopDX)
JT of City Girls had a rather unfortunate night at the Billboard Music Awards on May 15. The Miami rapper had walked on stage with her City Girls sister Yung Miami to present the award for Top R&B Artist. While their “Pussy Talk” collaborator Doja Cat took home the prize, the main topic of conversation was JT as she suffered an unfortunate wardrobe malfunction on stage.
Photos of JT’s accidental reveal went viral, and while most of the reactions ranged from shock to curiosity, she quickly chimed in, telling fans to relax as she had on black panties for the occasion. It wasn’t until JT caught up with Megan Thee Stallion did she realize fans saw a bit more than her black panties at the MGM Grand Garden Arena.
During a recent chat with Speedy Norman for Complex’s 360 series, JT and Yung Miami gave their reactions to the moment and how it was the icing on top of a very long day.
“We walked to our stage and the first person we had seen was Megan and she was like, ‘Girl, your whole pussy was out!’” JT told Norman around the 15:50 mark. “And I’m like, ‘Huh?’ Cause I had no clue. She was trying to tell me while I was on stage but I never looked down. I was not gon’ try to look anybody in their face. They were sitting under us.” Read more
Rihanna seen for first time since giving birth to baby boy with A$AP Rocky (Metro)
Rihanna has been seen for the first time since giving birth to her first child, with boyfriend A$AP Rocky.
The We Found Love singer, 34, welcomed a baby boy with the rapper, 33, in LA on May 13, but has yet to share the newborn’s name or a picture.
They were instantly showered in well wishes by fans and famous pals, with Rihanna’s ex-boyfriend, Chris Brown, offering his congratulations.
Following the news, the new mom kept a low profile as she was pictured following his arrival, heading out in Hollywood. Read more
Four Tet’s Kieran Hebden shares new KH song “Looking At Your Pager” (NME)
Four Tet‘s Kieran Hebden has shared a new song under his KH moniker ‘Looking At Your Pager’.
Hebden has used the moniker sporadically throughout his career, most notably on the Nelly Furtado-sampling 2019 hit ‘Only Human’.
‘Looking At Your Pager’ centres around a sample of 3LW’s 2000 single ‘No More (Baby I’ma Do Right)’. Speaking of the track’s genesis and eventual release, Hebden said: “This track was made in the summer last year just before my first festival set in a long time. I wanted something new to play that would feel universal, positive and futuristic and this is what I came up with.
“Since then I think more people have asked me about this track than for anything else I’ve ever made and I’ve had amazing times playing it to the best crowds you could ask for. It took quite a while to get approval for the vocal sample but it finally happened recently and now the music is out in the world for everyone.” Read more
BGT bosses speak out following backlash over professional and ‘recycled’ acts (HuffPost)
Britain’s Got Talent bosses have defended the acts on this year’s series, after it was revealed that around a quarter of them are professional performers or already have links to the show.
The show has faced criticism from viewers after it was discovered that many of the 60 competitors who have taken to the stage have a professional profile or have already appeared on other talent shows, including international versions of BGT.
This included Japanese magician Keiichi Iwasaki, who impressed hosts Ant and Dec so much on this year’s series that they awarded him their Golden Buzzer, fast-tracking him to the semi-finals.
It subsequently came to light that he had previously auditioned for Bulgaria, Spain and Germany’s equivalent talent shows, and even made it to the semi-finals of Italia’s Got Talent in 2016 with one of the tricks showcased in his BGT audition. Read more
Harry Styles opens up on first movie nude scenes (Variety)
Harry Styles just released his third studio album “Harry’s House,” but it’s his acting that everyone will be talking about this fall. The singer has two movies set for release, Olivia Wilde’s “Don’t Worry Darling” and Michael Grandage’s “My Policeman.” He has sex scenes in both movies, but it’s only in “My Policeman” where the actor bares it all for nude scenes. Styles stars in the film as a gay man in the 1950s whose marriage to his wife is complicated by his love for a male museum curator.
“It does feel vulnerable. I’d never kissed anyone on camera before and it felt like giving a part of myself away in some ways,” Styles said on “The Howard Stern Show” (via HuffPo) about performing his first nude scene. “I wasn’t naked in ‘Don’t Worry Darling.’ I was naked in ‘My Policeman.’ There’s no peen in the final cut. There’s bum bum…I don’t think the peen was intended to be involved.”
Styles then revealed it was “pre-negotiated” that his penis would “remain my own” in the film and not be seen on film.
“I think the most important thing in that stuff is trust,” Styles added of filming sex scenes. “I think if you speak about it properly with everyone that’s involved [that helps]. If you remember that the most important thing on the set is the two human beings doing it. If at any point either one of you is uncomfortable, I think having the conversation where it’s like, ‘It doesn’t matter if they’re getting great stuff, if you don’t feel good, you tell me and we’ll stop.’ Read more
Cannes Hidden Gem: Moral outrage meets thriller tragedy in ‘Next Sohee’ (THR)
Toward the end of 2016, Korean filmmaker July Jung encountered a news story that got under her skin. A high-school girl had been sent by her school to work as an intern in a telecom company’s call center to gain real-world work experience, and within three months on the job she committed suicide. The investigative report revealed that the girl had experienced extraordinarily stressful working conditions in the call center and felt that she would be punished by her school if she were to quit the job.
“My first reaction was that I couldn’t really understand why people as young as high school students were being placed in such a poor working environment,” says Jung. “But as I learned more, it was clear that the school wasn’t just negligent in not knowing about the conditions, they were proactively pushing them to do work placements in these kinds of places.”
At that point, Jung says her interest in the story transitioned from curiosity to a form of “outrage” as she learned more and more facts about the case. That outrage would inform both the tone and structure of her second feature, Next Sohee.
“Through this film, I not only wanted to tell this story in all its details, but I wanted to attempt some cinematic experiments as well,” Jung says. “So that’s how we ended up with the story split in two parts — with the first half based on the actual incident, and the second half based around this fictional detective who investigates what happened.” Read more
San Francisco archbishop bars Pelosi from communion over abortion stance (Guardian)
The Roman Catholic archbishop in Nancy Pelosi’s home town of San Francisco has banned her from receiving communion there over her staunch support of abortion rights, which she has strengthened as supreme court justices weigh finalising a draft ruling outlawing the termination of pregnancies in more than half the county.
In a letter addressed to the US House speaker and posted on his Twitter account, ultra conservative Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone argued that Pelosi’s “position on abortion has become only more extreme over the years, especially in the last few months,” and he had decided to block her from communion after she had ignored his requests to explain her stance to him.
Cordileone – San Francisco’s archbishop since 2012 – accused Pelosi of failing to “understand the grave evil she is perpetrating, the scandal she is causing, and the danger to her own soul she is risking”. He said he would need to stop her from receiving communion until she “publicly repudiates her support for abortion”.
“Please know that I find no pleasure whatsoever in fulfilling my pastoral duty here,” Cordileone added in his letter, which he said served as a public notice of his decision to Bay Area Catholics. Read more
Edwards dares Quadre as CBN Senior Open Tennis Championship enters semifinals (Guardian)
The clash of old rivals, Oyinlomo Quadre and Marylove Edwards, is the big attraction today at the ongoing CBN Senior Open Tennis Championship holding at the MKO Abiola Stadium, Abuja.
It is the business end of the 44th edition of the competition with only the best players left to fight for the laurels and bragging rights.
Men’s singles seed three, Igbinovia Wilson, yesterday, picked a semifinal ticket when he stopped Iloputa Ikechukwu 6-3, 5-7, 6-3 in a hard fought quarterfinal and his reward is a semifinals battle with top seed and the man to beat, Henry Atseye. Atseye made the last four by beating Gabriel Friday, 6-0, 6-0.
Also in the semi-finals is seed four, Nonso Madueke, who defeated Timipre Godgift 6-3, 6-2 and Abayomi Philip, who came from a set down to beat Adehi Oche 6-7, 6-4, 6-4. Read more
Avianna & Harvey Announces Signing John Mikel Obi (ThisDay)
One of the country’s most reputable talent management consulting and talent booking agencies, Avianna & Harvey Entertainments has announced the signing of John Mikel Obi.
The Chelsea legend effectively becomes the latest addition to the list of celebrities being managed by Avianna & Harvey Entertainments who have a long history of accomplishments in the talent and brand management industry.
While confirming the new working relationship with Mikel, the CEO and Founder of Avianna & Harvey Entertainments, Ahmed Fadekemi, described it as a union of like minds.
She said, “We are very delighted with the addition of Mikel Obi into the ever-expanding Avianna & Harvey Entertainments family. For us, this is another testimony that we are doing great work and we will continue to do more; projecting our clients in the best light” Read more
Nigeria beat Benin Republic to win WAFU B U-20 Championship (Punch)
Nigeria’s U-20 boys, Flying Eagles, on Friday night emerged champions of the West Africa B Zone when they defeated the Young Squirrels of Benin Republic 3-1 in the final of the WAFU B U-20 Championship in Niamey, capital of Niger Republic.
Tolulope Ojo, who emerged Man of the Match of the fast-paced final, set Nigeria on the path to victory in the 38th minute with a marvelous goal at the Stade General Seyni Kountché.
Ojo, who plays his club football for Ikenne-based Remo Stars, made it two for Nigeria in the 62nd minute.
Ibrahim Muhammad, a forward who plays for Maikunkele FC, made it 3-0 with 16 minutes to go when he cleverly won the ball as the Beninoise goalkeeper tried to launch an attack, and then heaved the ball over the goalie’s head. Read more
Jurgen Klopp sends Premier League title warning to rivals after Liverpool change (LiverpoolEcho)
Jurgen Klopp has warned Liverpool’s Premier League rivals that they “will not stop trying” should they come up short in their title pursuit this season.
Klopp’s side are attempting to break the 90-point barrier for the third time in his Anfield tenure when they host Wolves on Sunday in their 62nd and penultimate game of a season that can still see them win the quadruple.
Liverpool will be crowned champions of England for a record-equalling 20th time if they beat Bruno Lage’s men and Manchester City fail to take maximum points at home to Steven Gerrard’s Aston Villa on Sunday afternoon.
The Reds also meet Real Madrid in the Champions League final on May 28 but Klopp has warned that whatever happens between now and the end of the May, his team will be back in the hunt for major honours once more next term. Read more
Real Madrid look to Liverpool after goalless draw with Real Betis (France24)
Real Madrid’s last game before the Champions League final against Liverpool ended in a goalless draw against Real Betis on Friday as Marcelo bid farewell to the Santiago Bernabeu.
Carlo Ancelotti picked a strong side for Madrid’s last La Liga game of the season but with the title long sewn-up and the final in Paris just around the corner, neither team were keen to over-exert.
Instead, the contest was notable for the tribute paid to Marcelo and the lack of one for Gareth Bale.
Both players are expected to leave when their contracts expire this summer but only Marcelo was involved here, with Bale absent again from the squad. Read more
Rodgers wants Lookman stay at Leicester (Sun)
According to the Telegraph, Leicester are willing to meet Leipzig’s asking price for Ademola, as manager Brendan Rodgers is a big fan of the Super Eagles attacker.
The Nigeria international winger’s loan deal expires on June 30, and he could return to Germany, but LCFC are interested in keeping him this time in England.Leipzig wants €16.5 million for the player they paid 18 million euros to secure his signing from Everton in 2019.
The Germans had already recouped €2 million of that transfer fee when Fulham got him on loan two years ago. Read more
Warriors vs. Mavericks: Damion Lee, Davis Bertans hit with technical fouls after bizarre first half incident (CBS)
Game 2 of the Western Conference finals between the Golden State Warriors and Dallas Mavericks on Friday night reached a boiling point during the second quarter after a bizarre incident involving Damion Lee and Davis Bertans.
With just over eight minutes remaining in the second quarter, Spencer Dinwiddie swung the ball to Bertans in the corner, and the big man launched a quick-fire 3-pointer. Despite a strong contest from Lee that probably should have been called a foul, Bertans got the shot to go, and was knocked down in the process.
Because no foul was called, Bertans tried to get to his feet right away so he could run back on defense. As he began to stand up, Lee tried to jump over him a la Allen Iverson over Ty Lue in the 2001 Finals. The result was a bizarre collision that saw Lee dumped straight on his back.
Tempers understandably flared in the immediate aftermath, and players from both teams had words with each other. That the incident happened right in front of the Mavericks’ bench didn’t help. In the end, though, everyone kept their head and there was no further problems. Read more