Saraki donates severance allowance to Leah Sharibu’s family, others (Punch)
President of the Eighth Senate, Bukola Saraki, has asked the National Assembly management to distribute his severance allowance to the families of three victims of the insurgency in the North-East geopolitical zone being perpetrated by Boko Haram. He also said children of late senators in need of financial assistance should also benefit from the largesse. Saraki is entitled to N7.452m as contained on the website of the Revenue Allocation and Fiscal Commission. Read more
Buhari accepts Onnoghen’s voluntary retirement (Guardian)
Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari Sunday night said he has accepted the voluntary retirement of the country’s top judge accused of not declaring his asset. Buhari’s spokesman Garba Shehu said Walter Onnoghen’s retirement is effective from May 28, 2019. “President Buhari has accepted the voluntary retirement from service of Hon. Justice Walter Onnoghen as Chief Justice of Nigeria, effective from May 28, 2019,” presidential spokesman, Garba Shehu, said in a statement. Read more
Battle for Senate presidency hots up as Lawan, Ndume meet PDP senators-elect (Punch)
The two contenders for the position of the Senate presidency on Sunday intensified efforts to woo senators-elect ahead of Tuesday’s election for the leadership of the 9th National Assembly. While the immediate past Senate Leader, Ahmed Lawan, met the former Deputy President of the Senate, Ike Ekweremadu and some other Peoples Democratic Party senators, there were indications that Senator Ali Ndume, had got the support of some members of the opposition parties. Read more
Ihedioha still behaving like a lawmaker on oversight function –Okorocha (Punch)
A former governor of Imo State, Rochas Okorocha, has accused his successor, Emeka Ihedioha, of behaving as if he is still in the House of Representatives. Okorocha said this in a statement in Owerri, the state capital, on Sunday by his media aide, Sam Onwuemeodo. He said instead of Ihedioha to start work in earnest as the state governor, he had been busy setting up committees as if he was still a member of the House of Representatives. Read more
Fani-Kayode exonerates Gbajabiamila of alleged US criminal case (Guardian)
Former Nigeria Aviation Minister and chieftain of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) Femi Fani-Kayode Sunday drums support for Femi Gbajabiamila’s speakership race. Fani-Kayode although berates “the way he conducted aspects of his campaign”, he, however, expressed his support for former House leader. “I still believe that he deserves to be elected Speaker of the House and I support his candidacy,” Fani-Kayode tweeted. Read more
SERAP, others ask court to stop NASS N4.68bn allowance (Punch)
Anti-corruption group, Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project; BudgIT and Enough is Enough Nigeria have urged the Federal High Court in Lagos to stop the National Assembly Service Commission from paying the incoming members of the 9th National Assembly N4.68bn as take-off allowance. The suit was filed before the court in Lagos on Friday. Joined as defendants in the suit are the Senate President, Speaker of the House of Representatives, National Assembly Service Commission and Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission. Read more
JAMB says no candidate has more than one UTME result (Guardian)
The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) says no candidate of the 2019 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) has more than one result. The board stated this in its weekly bulletin released from the office of the Registrar on Sunday in Abuja. The bulletin quoted the Head, Media and Publications, Dr Fabian Benjamin, as saying that candidates with more than one result were either fraudulent or victims of examination syndicates. Read more
State of OOUTH, worse than deplorable, says Ogun gov (Punch)
Governor Dapo Abiodun of Ogun State has lamented the poor state of the Olabisi Onabanjo Teaching Hospital, Sagamu, describing it as “worse than deplorable.” The governor, who paid an inspection to the state teaching hospital on Sunday, said the buildings and facilities in the hospital were substandard. Abiodun added that the report he received about the hospital was disheartening, adding that that was what prompted his visit to the health facility. Read more
Scores killed as bandits attack five Sokoto villages (Punch)
Bandits struck in Rabah and Isa local governments areas of Sokoto State, in simultaneous and coordinated attacks on Saturday evening and killed over 50 people in five villages. The victims were buried on Sunday according to Islamic rites. Governor Aminu Tambuwal of the state and some other government functionaries attended the burial ceremony of about 25 of them in Rabah. Read more
Police: ‘Man with BB gun’ caused gay pride parade panic (BBC)
A man is due to appear in court after allegedly causing a stampede at a gay pride parade in the US which left seven people needing hospital treatment. The man, named in US media as Aftabjit Singh, allegedly sent the crowd running through the streets of Washington, DC, on Saturday after wielding what appeared to be a gun. A number of people reported hearing gunshots before the crowd fled. Read more
Barking fire: Blaze destroys 20 flats in east London (BBC)
Twenty flats were destroyed and another 10 have been damaged after a fire engulfed a building in east London. The blaze spread over six floors of the block of flats in De Pass Gardens, Barking, at about 15:30 BST, London Fire Brigade said. About 100 firefighters worked for more than two hours to subdue the fire, which was extinguished at 18:00. The cause is being investigated. Read more
E3: Xbox One successor Project Scarlett to launch in 2020 (BBC)
Microsoft has announced that its next-generation console is set to go on sale before the end of 2020. Codenamed Project Scarlett, the firm said that the machine would be the “biggest leap” over a previous generation there had ever been. At the E3 games expo, Microsoft said the custom-designed processor, made by AMD, would be four times more powerful than that of the Xbox One X. Read more
Cardi B makes acting debut in Hustlers and reveals stripper character’s name (Metro)
Cardi B is making her Hollywood debut as a fictional stripper called Diamond. The 26-year-old shared a picture of herself in character on Saturday revealing Diamond’s name and costume to the world for the first time. The former real-life pole dancer has landed her first big-screen role alongside Jennifer Lopez in the film Hustlers. Read more
Daniel Craig and Rami Malek are ‘struggling to film together’ after Bond 25 setbacks (Metro)
Daniel Craig and his Bond villain Rami Malek just can’t seem to make their schedules align after a series of filming setbacks. According to a new report, Rami will have already commenced a new project that clashes with Bond 25 now that the shooting days have been pushed back. Filming has been pushed back from September to late October or early November, following Daniel’s ankle injury, which has apparently wreaked havoc with Academy Award winner Rami’s schedule. Read more
Nobody can stop my reappointment as minister – Dalung (Punch)
Immediate past Minister of Sports, Mr Solomon Dalung, says his reappointment by President Muhammadu Buhari is unstoppable by “any human being.” He stated this during an interview with The PUNCH on crisis in the basketball, athletics and football federations, as well as the Nigeria Football Supporters Club, during his tenure as minister. When asked to clarify allegations that he had issues with some stakeholders he perceived were working against his reappointment, Dalung replied, “No, there is nobody born of a woman that can stop my appointment if God wants it to be. I am not carried away by such sentiments.” Read more
Africa Cup of Nations: Bony named in Ivory Coast’s final squad (BBC)
Former Swansea and Manchester City striker Wilfried Bony is set to play at his fifth Africa Cup of Nations after being named in Ivory Coast’s final 23-man squad for this month’s tournament in Egypt. The 30-year-old was part of the Ivorian side that beat Ghana to win the 2015 Nations Cup in Equatorial Guinea. Elephants coach Ibrahim Kamara selected his final squad from a 28-man provisional list after their 3-1 victory over Comoros in a warm-up match on Friday when Bony scored two goals. Read more
Portugal win inaugural Nations League after victory over Netherlands (Metro)
Portugal secured their second trophy in three years with a 1-0 victory over the Netherlands to win the inaugural Nations League. Goncalo Guedes stole the limelight with the only goal of the game in the 60th minute, arrowing a powerful long-range drive past Netherlands goalkeeper Jasper Cillessen at Porto’s Estadio do Dragao. Ronald Koeman’s side, who beat England on their way to the final, offered little in return as Portugal threatened to double their lead in the final half an hour. Read more
Cristiano Ronaldo told Manchester United target Matthijs de Ligt to join Juventus after Portugal win (Metro)
Matthijs de Ligt has revealed that Cristiano Ronaldo cheekily told him to join Juventus following the Netherlands’ 1-0 defeat to Portugal in the Nations League final. The 19-year-old defender, who captained Ajax to their first domestic double in 17 years, is one of the most sought-after players in Europe, with Manchester United, Liverpool and Barcelona battling it out for his signature this summer. Read more
England beat Scotland at Women’s World Cup (BBC)
England opened their World Cup campaign with a narrow victory over rivals Scotland in a game where they showed glimpses of their potential. After an open start, Nikita Parris scored from the spot on her World Cup debut after the penalty was awarded following a video assistant referee review. Ellen White doubled the advantage before the break as Phil Neville’s team dominated the first half. Read more
Rafael Nadal closer to Roger Federer’s Grand Slam record than ever before (Metro)
Rafael Nadal moved to within two titles of Roger Federer’s all-time Grand Slam haul, defeating Dominic Thiem in four sets to clinch his 18th major. The Spanish ‘King of Clay’ has won more Slam titles at Roland Garros alone than Rod Laver and Bjorn Borg managed in their entire careers, snatching his 12th French Open crown with a 6-3 5-7 6-1 6-1 win after three hours and one minute. Read more
Lewis Hamilton wins in Canada after Sebastian Vettel penalized (BBC)
Sebastian Vettel lost victory in the Canadian Grand Prix to Lewis Hamilton after being penalised for dangerous driving against his rival. The Ferrari driver made a mistake under pressure from the world champion, running wide at Turn Three, and pushed Hamilton wide as he rejoined the track. Race stewards decided Vettel had rejoined the track unsafely and penalised him five seconds for forcing Hamilton off the track. Read more
New lawyer for Neymar’s rape accuser considers dropping case (Guardian)
The new lawyer of the woman at the centre of an alleged rape scandal involving Neymar is considering withdrawing from the case if his client fails to provide further evidence, Brazilian news website G1 reported. Danilo Garcia Andrade took on Najila Trindade Mendes de Souza’s lawsuit earlier this week, and is said to want to see the content of a seven-minute video filmed during the model’s second meeting with the Brazil star in Paris. Read more
Thibaut Courtois welcomes Eden Hazard to Real Madrid after forward follows him from Chelsea (Metro)
Thibaut Courtois is confident Eden Hazard will be a roaring success at Real Madrid, but the goalkeeper has urged his team-mate to start brushing up on his Spanish to give himself the best possible chance of fitting in. Madrid and Chelsea agreed a fee of €100m (£88.5m) – rising to €146.1m (£130m) with add-ons – for Hazard and the 28-year-old forward has put pen to paper on a five-year contract with the La Liga giants. Read more
Benfica president accepts Joao Felix may leave amid Manchester United transfer speculation (Metro)
Benfica president Luis Filipe Vieira has conceded that Joao Felix could leave the club this summer amid strong interest from Manchester United. Felix, 19, had a scintillating debut campaign for Benfica, notching up 15 goals and seven assists in the league, and United are battling it out with the likes of Manchester City, Juventus and Real Madrid for the attacking midfielder. The Red Devils are reportedly in discussions to sign Felix this summer, as Ole Gunnar Solskjaer looks to bolster his attacking options, but Benfica are holding firm for the time being. Read more