Sexagenarian dies as friend steals ATM card, withdraws N700,000 (Punch)
The family of a 60-year-old man, Isak Wahab, has been thrown into mourning after he reportedly died from shock after an unauthorised withdrawal of N700,000 from his bank account.
His wife, Monsurat, accused his friend, identified only as Ola, of making the withdrawal, which she said led to the death of the sexagenarian.
Monsurat, while speaking to our correspondent during a visit to their residence in the Ikotun area of Lagos State, said Ola stole her husband’s ATM card.
She said, “Ola was a close friend to our family, particularly my husband. He had financial difficulties with his rent and he came to my husband to tell him that he wanted to sell his generator so that he could raise money to pay his rent. My husband told him not to do that and said he (Isak) was expecting payment from our tenants and he could help. My husband then gave him N10,000. Read more
Fayose dumps Atiku, says power must shift to South (DailyTrust)
Former Governor Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti State has demanded for power shift to the South, saying it would be unfair for a Northerner to step into office after President Muhammadu Buhari’s eight years.
Fayose, an ally of Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State, is among those who contested the presidential ticket of the opposition party, won by former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar.
After the primaries, the PDP had called on all its stakeholders to close ranks and work towards wresting power from the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
However, the PDP started experiencing post primary crisis after Atiku chose Governor Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta State as his running mate.
Atiku picked Okowa over Wike despite the recommendation of some party leaders. Read more
Pen-Cinema Bridge: Sanwo-Olu resettles 14 displaced families (Nation)
Fourteen families which were displaced during the construction of the Pen-Cinema Bridge in Agege area of Lagos State have been resettled.
Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu handed over the apartment keys to them today at the unveiling of ‘Greater Lagos LBIC Apartments’ inside the existing Ijaiye Housing Estate at Pen-Cinema.
The ‘Greater Lagos LBIC Apartments’ are four new structures comprising 48 units of 2 and 3 bedroom flats, and four units of 4-bedroom maisonette, making 52 apartments in total.
Governor Sanwo-Olu described the initiative as a testament of his administration’s commitment towards providing affordable housing for Lagosians. Read more
Why I switched from Lagos to Ogun West senatorial district – Senator Solomon (Vanguard)
The Senator representing Lagos West in the ninth Assembly, Senator Adeola Solomon, has said that the rising foreign debt profile of Nigeria is not responsible for the cash crunch being faced by the government.
Solomon, who is the chairman of the Senate Committee on Finance disclosed this while featuring on TVC’s Breakfast show yesterday. He said that the committee is guided by the fiscal responsibility act in approving borrowings for the federal government, adding that there are thresholds it must adhere to.
“Well, let me thank you for going into my activities as chairman of the senate committee on Finance. I want to say that if the country is broke, it is not broken because of the level of foreign loan, rather because of the issues of security affecting Foreign direct investment. Looking at the issues of foreign loan, we are guided by the fiscal Responsibility act which gives the threshold in which the borrowing must be to the GDP which stands at 3% and there are provisions that it can be extended if need be.”
Speaking on the gale of defection currently being witnessed in the national Assembly, Senator Solomon said that the development is not unconnected with the fallouts of the primary elections across party lines. Read more
Tinubu, Abiru, Lagos APC chair salute Fashola at 59 (Nation)
All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate and National Leader, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, has congratulated Works and Housing Minister Babatunde Fashola (SAN) on his 59th birthday.
Asiwaju Tinubu hailed Fashola for his outstanding public service record as a former governor of Lagos State and on his current job as a minister of the Federal Republic.
Also, the senator representing Lagos East, Tokunbo Abiru, saluted the ex-governor for his legacy of good governance.
In a statement by his media office, Asiwaju Tinubu said: “I specially congratulate the Honourable Minister, Mr. Babatunde Raji Fashola (SAN), for celebrating another birthday on earth. Read more
Lagos airlifts 1,598 pilgrims, promises to refund others (Punch)
Lagos State Government has disclosed that it has airlifted 1,598 pilgrims following the inability of the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria to secure proposed slots for Nigerian intending pilgrims to this year’s hajj.
The state Commissioner for Home Affairs, Anofi Elegushi, announced this on Tuesday while addressing journalists during a press conference in Lagos.
Elegushi also noted that the Lagos State Government would make the full refund process quickly available for intending pilgrims who wish to seek refund.
He said, “You will recall that the COVID-19 pandemic did not allow any airlifting of pilgrims since 2020. This gave rise to an increase in the backlog of intending pilgrims since then. Read more
Educare Trust’s Contest unearths young orators in Ibadan (Tribune)
THIS year’s edition of the Educare Trust/Bono Energy oratory contest among some secondary schools in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, has brought to limelight some young orators who will definitely be efficient and effective leaders of the future.
With the theme, “Effective and Efficient Leadership as a panacea to bad governance in Nigeria,” the participants gave good accounts of themselves and the quality of teaching and mentorship in their schools to the delight of attendees.
Before the contest, the secretary of Educare Trust, Mr Sunkanmi Onadeko, said the idea behind the contest is to assist students develop oratory skills if they are to become leaders of tomorrow.
Onadeko said Educare Trust would continue to provide young ones in the society the platform to bring out the best in them, just as he appreciated the continued support of Bono Energy, which had been funding the contest for several years.
Institutions offer scholarship to students affected by ASUU strike (Guardian)
A Washington DC, United States-based tertiary institution, Nexford University, has partnered with PiggyVest to offer scholarships to students affected by the ongoing Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) strike.
The ivory tower, in a statement, yesterday, said the partnership reaffirmed its commitment to providing access to affordable and uninterrupted education.
The scholarship is initially for 40 learners to hone their skills in Business Analytics, Product Management, 360 Degrees Marketing and Digital Transformation.
The Nigerian firm is completely underwriting tuition of some of the beneficiaries. PiggyVest’s co-founder, Odunayo Eweniyi, pointed out that the collaboration was consistent with the firm’s resolve to equip young people with requisite skills for lucrative local and international job opportunities. Read more
Court discharges false alarmist Ameerah Sufyan on mental health grounds (Punch)
A Magistrate Court in Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory has granted Ameerah Sufyan, who raised a false alarm that she had been kidnapped, bail on medical grounds.
Sufyan had raised the alarm via her Twitter handle on June 14 that she had been kidnapped alongside 16 people which included three pregnant women and two children.
The alarm turned out to be false after she was recovered by the Police, with Sufyan stating that she “went to these locations, entered bushes and dehydrated and starved myself for four days just like that, there was no kidnapping”.
The Presiding Judge, Chukwuemeka Nweke, granted Sufyan bail on three conditions, which bordered on the report by the prosecution counsel, JCA Idachaba, which revealed that she suffered from mental health problems. Read more
8 years after, Jonathan seeks implementation of 2014 confab report (Leadership)
Former President Goodluck Jonathan yesterday opened up on why he could not implement the recommendations of the 2014 conference report, saying he procrastinated because he was confident of winning the 2015 general election.
He also listed some of the impediments to implementing the report to include the gale of defections that hit his administration, the political environment at the time, as well as the length of time it would take to implement the report of the conference.
Jonathan disclosed this during a book presentation in Abuja titled “The National Conversation” written by Akpandem James and Sam Akpe.
He noted that those knowledgeable about the processes of constitutional reforms would know that to implement the confab report, a number of alterations will be made in the constitution which would require the involvement of the National Assembly and state assemblies. Read more
Taylor Sheridan takes over as showrunner for new Paramount+ series ‘Lioness’ (TheWrap)
Taylor Sheridan, arguably the busiest man in television, is about to add more to his already overflowing plate: he’ll be showrunning his new Paramount+ series “Lioness,” TheWrap has confirmed.
Sheridan created the series but had tapped Thomas Brady (a veteran of “Hell on Wheels,” “Colony” and “NOS4A2”) to run the show. Brady was present throughout the writers’ room, but now that the writers’ room is out (production is slated to begin in September), he’s stepping back from showrunning duties. The decision was amicable.
“Lioness,” supposedly based on an actual CIA training program, follows a young Marine (played by Laysla De Oliveira) who is recruited to join the Lioness Engagement Team, an elite unit meant to infiltrate and bring down terrorist organizations. Zoe Saldaña plays one of the heads of the program, who is tasked with managing her operatives.
Sheridan created and will produce “Lioness” as well with his longtime creative partners David C. Glasser, Ron Burkle, Bob Yari and David Hutkin, who are executive producing, alongside Nicole Kidman via Blossom Films. Saldaña also executive produces. Read more
Sampa The Great shares enchanting new single ‘Never Forget’, details second album (NME)
Riding hot on the heels of her performance at Glastonbury 2022, Sampa The Great has dropped an alluring new single titled ‘Never Forget’ – for which she linked up with fellow Zambian artists Chef 187, Tio Nason and Mwanjé – and revealed the details for her forthcoming second album.
In a press release, Sampa described ‘Never Forget’ as “an ode to Zamrock music, a genre born in the ’70s combining traditional Zambian music and psychedelic rock”. More specifically, the song was inspired by music focused on the kalindula, a traditional style of bass guitar that features prominently on ‘Never Forget’.
Expounding on how the song honours Zamrock and the kalindula, Sampa continued: “This tribute was inspired by the band WITCH and their lead singer, Mr Jagari Chanda, who has become one of my musical mentors. I discovered Zamrock later in my life and was surprised that this music was known globally, yet not fully celebrated and acknowledged in Zambia today.
“It hit home for me as I felt similarities in my own journey, having had my career take off outside my birth country. I thought it was fitting to pay homage to those who came before me and merge past, present and future through music and imagery; passing the baton from one generation to the next.” Read more
Ghislaine Maxwell sentenced to 20 years over sex trafficking (BBC) Ghislaine Maxwell has been sentenced to 20 years in a US prison for helping former financier Jeffrey Epstein abuse young girls.
Maxwell, 60, was convicted in December of recruiting and trafficking four teenage girls for sexual abuse by Epstein, her then boyfriend.
One of her accusers said outside the court in New York that she should stay in prison for the rest of her life.
Epstein killed himself in a Manhattan jail cell in 2019.
He had been awaiting his own sex trafficking trial.
Ghislaine Maxwell’s crimes took place over a decade, between 1994 and 2004. Read more
After contract renewal, Disney CEO Bob Chapek looks to prove wishes can come true with him helming the ship (Deadline)
Walt Disney CEO Bob Chapek won praise in many corners in 2020 for ably steering the company through the devastation of Covid after taking the baton from Bob Iger early in that fateful year.
The year-and-a-half since has seen much more blowback along with bouquets, with the sharp pullback in Disney’s share price reflecting in part lingering questions about the future of the seventh person to serve as CEO in the company’s 99-year history. He publicly clashed with Scarlett Johansson over the release of Black Widow, ejected widely respected executive Peter Rice with minimal explanation and fumbled — by his own admission — the company’s response to Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” legislation.
Earlier today, though, Chapek got a three-year contract renewal from the Disney board of directors. The announcement of the widely expected renewal capped a two-day meeting of the board. On Wednesday, the newly re-upped boss will be back in his element, presiding over a christening ceremony for the Disney Wish in Port Canaveral, FL. The cruise ship will set off on its maiden voyage July 14.
Its development and construction overseen by Chapek during his stint running the company’s theme parks and resorts division, the Wish is the first new cruise ship to join the fleet in the past decade. It incorporates themed dining attractions and other extensions of the company’s potent Marvel, Frozen and Star Wars brands, plus a “1923” area dedicated to the year the company was founded. “This is really his baby,” a longtime former colleague of Chapek’s tells Deadline. “Welcoming this ship in the company’s centennial year will be his chance to reset the narrative. Parks, cruise ships — that’s been a real specialty. That’s where he feels comfortable.” Read more
Eva Mendes defends Ryan Gosling’s platinum blond Ken transformation after fans mocked the look (DailyMail)
Eva Mendes is a big fan of Ryan Gosling’s Ken doll transformation for the highly-anticipated Barbie movie.
And the 48-year-old defended her 41-year-old partner’s hotly debated look, which sees him rocking a head of platinum blond and an orange tan, during Tuesday’s episode of The Talk.
‘People do know he’s not playing a real person, right? He’s playing a fake person,’ she stated after The Talk co-host Natalie Morales referenced the backlash.
Many fans used social media to blast Gosling’s transformation as ‘horrendous,’ as well as to question how stylists managed to make the normally stunning looking man look ‘not hot.’ Read more
Travis Barker hospitalised in Los Angeles, accompanied by wife Kourtney Kardashian (Independent)
Travis Barker has been hospitalised in Los Angeles.
The Blink-182 drummer has been admitted to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, according to a report by TMZ. The musician was accompanied by his wife, Kourtney Kardashian.
The report states that Barker first attended West Hills Hospital on Tuesday morning (28 June) after experiencing a health issue, but was then transferred to the larger Cedars-Sinai by ambulance.
TMZ points out that earlier in the day Barker had tweeted, “God save me”. It is not yet known why Barker is seeking medical treatment. Read more
French parliament picks first-ever female speaker (DW)
Yael Braun-Pivet is a former lawyer who has served in parliament since 2017. She used her first speech in the new role to defend abortion rights.
France’s parliament has picked Yael Braun-Pivet to be its new speaker, making her the first woman to ever hold the post.
Braun-Pivet used her inaugural speech in the new role to address reproductive rights.
“The brutal decision handed down last Friday by the US Supreme Court, that reversed its commitment, that shocked us so much, is a stark reminder to be vigilant,” Braun-Pivet told the National Assembly, France’s lower house, on Tuesday. Read more
Dare splashes N2m on victorious Golden Eaglets, praises NFF (Guardian)
Sports and Youth Development Minister, Sunday Dare has heaped plaudits on the leadership of Nigeria Football Federation for making merit and competence its watchwords in selection of coaches for the age-grade National Teams, as agreed with the Ministry. He stated that the step taken by the NFF has started to bear fruits with excellent performances at U20 and U17 levels of recent.
Dare made the pronouncement yesterday, while hosting players and officials of the U17 Boys, Golden Eaglets to a reception following their victory at the WAFU B U17 Championship in Cape Coast, Ghana.
“I want to give credit to the NFF for implementing the cardinal principles that we agreed at meetings on youth football development. Now, we can see that the emphasis on merit and competence has started to bear fruits. The U17 and U20 girls have qualified for their FIFA World Cup competitions with aplomb and the U17 and U20 boys have won regional tournaments in emphatic manner, with promises of what we can look forward to at their African championships next year. Read more
Pascal dreams to succeed elder brother, Francis Uzoho in Super Eagles (DailyTrust)
Golden Eaglets goalkeeper, Pascal Uzoho, has said his ultimate ambition is to replace his elder brother, Francis Uzoho in the Super Eagles.
The younger Uzoho spoke to Daily Trust after yesterday’s reception for his team by the Federal Ministry of Youth and Sports Development at the Moshood Abiola national stadium, Abuja.
Pascal expressed happiness at winning his first laurel for the national team and stated further that his dream is to keep playing for the Super Eagles in future.
“I feel really great to have my first experience in winning a tournament for Nigeria. I also feel happy and proud to have my elder brother as the Super Eagles goalkeeper. Read more
Chelsea agree £55m Raphinha deal in blow to Arsenal (IrishIndependent)
Chelsea are on the brink of clinching a £55m (€63m) deal to sign Raphinha from Leeds United and landing a significant blow on London rivals Arsenal.
The Blues have settled on a fee with Leeds, plus add-ons, and must now just agree personal terms with the player, which is not expected to be an issue. With the deal expected to go through, Chelsea are aiming to add Raphinha to a £105m (€121m) new-look attack with Raheem Sterling.
Chelsea have opened talks with Sterling and Manchester City about a move to Stamford Bridge, but want another attacking player to boost head coach Thomas Tuchel’s squad.
There had been interest in Ousmane Dembele, who is due to make a decision on his Barcelona future, and Everton’s Richarlison, who Tottenham Hotspur are in talks to sign. Read more
Fulham look to sign Wolfsburg fullback Kevin Mbabu for around £8m (DailyMail)
Fulham have held talks over an £8m move for Wolfsburg right-back Kevin Mbabu as they consider cheaper options to Liverpool’s Neco Williams.
Fulham have been working through a list of options with former Newcastle defender Mbabu, Williams and ex-Everton full back Djibril Sidibe are all being considered.
Liverpool want £15m for Williams with Nottingham Forest and Southampton also keen on the Wales international while Sidibe is available as a free agent.
Mbabu has one year left on contract and Wolfsburg are open to offers as the 27-year old endured a poor end to the Bundesliga season. Read more
Serena Williams is out of Wimbledon, but it was an epic, incredible match against Harmony Tan (ESPN)
Serena Williams lost in her eagerly-anticipated return on Tuesday night at Wimbledon in a hard-fought 7-5, 1-6, 7-6 (7) marathon thriller to Harmony Tan, and questions about the 23-time major champion’s future in the sport were immediate.
“That’s a question I can’t answer,” the 40-year-old said in her post-match news conference. “Like, I don’t know. I feel like, you know, I don’t know. Who knows? Who knows where I’ll pop up.”
But if that was the last time we’ll see the legendary superstar on court, at Wimbledon or elsewhere, it was certainly a match to be remembered for a long time, full of epic rallies, powerful hitting and instantly-viral celebratory reactions. Williams herself even called it “insane and intense” in a post on Instagram, and said, “my goodness I enjoyed that” despite the loss. Here are some moments from the night that won’t soon be forgotten:
After losing the first two games of the match, Williams started to find her rhythm and form in the third game. During this rally at deuce, Williams flew all over the court, returning every ball Tan hit her way and winning the point with an overhead smash that brought her down to one knee. It was perhaps the first truly “Serena” moment of the match. Her close friend Caroline Wozniacki, who was commentating on the match for ESPN, called it, “very entertaining tennis.” Read more
‘Listen to the players’, say Reed, Perez as they blame the PGA Tour for departure to LIV (StraitsTimes)
Americans Pat Perez and Patrick Reed on Tuesday (June 28) said the PGA Tour had only itself to blame for losing players to the Saudi-backed breakaway LIV Golf Invitational Series.
Speaking ahead of the LIV Golf Invitational Portland tournament at Oregon’s Pumpkin Ridge Golf Club, Perez and 2018 Masters winner Reed ripped into the PGA Tour and its commissioner, Jay Monahan, and said the blame for their departure lay at the feet of the golf organising body.
“Monahan just shut it out from the start. Didn’t want to listen, didn’t want to take a meeting,” said Perez, a 46-year-old, three-time PGA Tour winner.
“They didn’t listen to the players. Somehow, the tour, they keep talking about, ‘Oh yeah, we work for you, we work for the players.’ Read more
Piquet facing Formula 1 track ban for Hamilton racist slur (SMH)
Three-time world champion Nelson Piquet faces a potential ban from all Formula One races if he fails to apologise to Lewis Hamilton over his racist outburst.
As a title-winner, Piquet is allowed access throughout the season, but his privileges are now under threat after he twice used the derogatory Portuguese word “neguinho” while discussing Hamilton.
F1, the sport’s governing body, declined to speculate on specific sanctions, but one senior source close to racing said: “The view very strongly is that if he doesn’t publicly apologise and speak to Lewis directly, you won’t be seeing him on the paddock again.”
F1, motorsport governing body the FIA and Mercedes have rallied behind Hamilton amid an escalating furore just days before the British Grand Prix. The seven-time world champion had earlier described racist attitudes he had faced throughout his time in the sport, adding that the “archaic mindset” of Piquet has “no place in our sport”. Read more