Survivor narrates ordeal in crash that killed 22 Kano athletes (Guardian)
One of the Kano State athletes at the recently concluded 22nd National Sports Festival, “Gateway 2025,” has expressed gratitude for the gift of life and a second chance.
Dorothy Okwuzuluike, a kickboxer, was among eight survivors of a ghastly auto crash that claimed the lives of 22 members of the Kano contingent.
The athletes had given their all during the 15-day event, securing various medals for Kano State. Read more
61 killed in fresh herdsmen attacks, communal crisis in Benue (Vanguard)
Makurdi—It was a bloody weekend in parts of Benue State, following the killing of over 46 persons by rampaging armed herdsmen in two separate attacks on communities in Apa and Gwer West Local Government areas of the state.
This came as no fewer than 15 persons also lost their lives, and closed to 200 houses completely razed in a communal clash between the people of Mbakine and Ojumole, also in Gwer East Local Government Area of the state.
It was gathered from an eyewitness that the crisis in Apa started Sunday afternoon, when armed herders invaded Ijaha Ibele Ochekwu, in Apa council, killing two persons and injuring several others. Read more
‘Nigerian men see women as less than human’, Kate Henshaw speaks on systemic gender discrimination (Leadership)
Veteran Nollywood actress, Kate Henshaw, has delivered a scathing critique of the status and treatment of women in Nigeria, calling out societal, religious, and legal systems that she said continued to discriminate against women.
In an interview on Arise News Channel on Saturday, Kate Henshaw lamented what she described as the pervasive dehumanisation of Nigerian women, accusing men and institutions of twisting the Biblical message of equality between man and woman into one of hierarchy and oppression.
“God created man and woman. He created the man first, no doubt,” Henshaw said. “Even pastors and churches are at fault for this. He (God) brought the woman from the side, not from the head to be over the man, or from under to be beneath him, but beside, to reign beside him, to be fruitful, multiply and bring up children and grow together.” Read more
Nigeria seeks $25b investment for undersea gas pipeline to Europe (Channels)
Nigeria is pursuing a $25 billion undersea gas pipeline project to supply gas to Europe.
This was disclosed during a meeting between Vice President Kashim Shettima and Vitol Group at the Presidential Villa, Abuja on Monday.
The project which is the Nigeria-Morocco Gas Pipeline aims to transport Nigerian gas to Morocco and onward to Europe through the West African coastline.. Read more
Supreme Court to decide Gwandu Emir’s fate June 4 (Sun)
The Supreme Court has rescheduled June 4 for judgment in the appeals over the reinstatement of the deposed Al-Mustapha Haruna-Jokolo as the 19th Emir of Gwandu.
A five-member panel of Justices, presided over by Uwani Abba-Aji had on March 11 fixed June 6, after the parties argued their briefs in the court.
The appeals challenged the seven-year-old order of the Sokoto Division of the Court of Appeal, which reinstated Haruna-Jokolo as the 19th Emir of Gwandu. He was deposed in 2005, and he immediately challenged his dethronement at the State High Court. Read more
50,000 vehicles converted as CNG investments hit $500m (Punch)
The Presidential Compressed Natural Gas Initiative, an agency of the Federal Government, has revealed that Nigeria’s push towards alternative transportation fuels has attracted over $500m in investments and converted more than 50,000 vehicles to run on Compressed Natural Gas within its first year.
Dismissing a media report that claimed a slow rollout of CNG infrastructure across the country, the Programme Director and Chief Executive of PCNGI, Michael Oluwagbemi, described the claim as “alarmist” and “unreflective of the rapid progress” achieved under President Bola Tinubu’s administration.
In a statement issued on Monday, Oluwagbemi said the programme, which officially commenced in May 2024, has already created over 10,000 direct jobs and led to the establishment of 255 new vehicle conversion centres and 53 CNG dispensing daughter stations nationwide. Read more
NAF strikes kill 20 terrorists, destroy 21 motorcycles (Nation)
Twenty terrorists have been killed in Nigerian Air Force (NAF) aircraft strikes in Zamfara State. Twenty-one motorcycles were also destroyed in the operation.
NAF spokesman Air Commodore Ehimen Ejodame announced this in a statement yesterday in Abuja.
The statement said the terrorists were killed during air interdictions conducted on May 31 at Mai-Galma in Maru Local Government Area of the state. Read more
“We can sing it”: how The Staple Singers brought gospel to the masses (FarOut)
While the 1960s’ folk revivalism forged a crucial soundtrack to the civil rights struggle that swept across America – Joan Baez close friends and comrades with Martin Luther King Jr and Pete Seeger penning solidarity songs since the 1950s – it was the soul pumped out of the Motown and Stax hit factories that truly channelled the country’s Black experience during the era’s social tumult.
A vital meld of gospel and R&B that scored the Black working-class identity in the face of discrimination and vicious Jim Crow segregation in the south, soul would endure as one of the States’ most enduring musical art forms and an essential document of Black culture.
Having been cutting strictly folk-infused gospel straight from the Baptist church tradition since their teens, The Staple Singers, under the oversight of their father Roebuck ‘Pops’ Staples, ran through a string of labels since the 1950s before being signed to Al Bell’s Stax in 1968. Read more
The ingenious way Ukraine pulled off its stunning ‘Pearl Harbor’ attack against Russia (NYPost)
Ukraine was able to carry out its stunning “Operation Spider Web” attack on Russian air bases and nuclear fleet by hiding explosives-laden drones in wooden sheds, according to officials.
Kyiv’s secret service (SBU) stashed the attack drones inside the roofs of the sheds, which were loaded onto trucks that were driven to the perimeter of the air bases, Ukrainian authorities revealed in a statement shared on social media.
The roof panels were then lifted off by a remotely activated device so the 117 drones used in the strikes could fly out and make their devastating attacks. Read more
UN calls for investigation into killings near Gaza aid distribution site (BBC)
The US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation has set up four aid distribution centre in southern and central Gaza
The UN secretary-general has called for an independent investigation into the killing of Palestinians near an aid distribution centre in Gaza on Sunday, amid disputed reports that Israeli forces had opened fire on people waiting to collect aid.
Witnesses reported being shot at while waiting for food from the centre in Rafah run by the US and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF).
The Red Cross said its hospital received 179 casualties, 21 of whom were dead. The Hamas-run Civil Defence agency put the death toll at 31. Read more
Killer who hid pregnant wife’s body under patio for 23 years asked son to dig up her remains (Independent)
A “callous” father who murdered his wife and hid her body under a patio for 23 years asked their son to dig her up and send a hair to police in an audacious plot to clear his own name.
Andrew Griggs, who is already serving a life sentence with a minimum of 20 years for killing devoted mother-of-three Debbie Griggs, has been jailed for three more years after he tried to manipulate one of their sons into exhuming her body from prison.
The former fisherman, 62, was convicted of Ms Griggs’ murder in 2019 following a cold case investigation into her disappearance in 1999, after she vanished while she was three months pregnant with their fourth child. Her body had never been found. Read more
Missing reporter Austin Tice detained by Assad regime, documents show (UPI)
Missing American journalist Austin Tice was imprisoned by the regime of the since-deposed Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in 2012 with his whereabouts now not known, according to top secret intelligence files uncovered by the BBC.
Former Syrian officials also have confirmed Tice’s detention to the BBC. The material was part of a BBC investigation more than one year ago for a Radio 4 podcast series in accompanying a Syrian investigator to an intelligence facility.
The Assad regime had denied they had imprisoned him, and didn’t know where he was. Read more
German court rules asylum seekers unlawfully expelled at Polish border (DW)
A Berlin court has ruled that Germany violated asylum law when it deported three Somali nationals at its border with Poland in a decision that challenges Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s aggressive new migration stance.
The three asylum seekers – two men and one woman – were turned back by border police at a train station in Frankfurt an der Oder, a city on Germany’s eastern border.
“The applicants could not demand to enter Germany beyond the border crossing,” the court said in a statement on Monday. “However, the rejection was unlawful because Germany is obliged to process their claims.” Read more
Super Falcons test might against Indomitable Lionesses (Guardian)
As part of their preparations for the forthcoming African Women’s Cup of Nations, the Super Falcons will host the Indomitable Lionesses in a friendly game at the MKO Abiola International Sports Centre, Abeokuta, today.
The newly remodeled 10,000-capacity MKO Abiola Sports Centre, which just hosted the 22nd National Sports Festival, is the venue for the game slated to start by 4pm.
The international friendly was initially scheduled as a two-leg showdown between the two female heavyweight football teams in Ikenne and Abeokuta but was reduced to a single high-profile encounter due to logistic issues. Read more
Massive withdrawal rocks Eagles, Russia friendly (Sun)
A number of withdrawals and injuries to some players have combined to alter the list of players who will appear for Nigeria in Friday’s international friendly match in Moscow, from the original list drawn up by Super Eagles’ Head Coach Eric Chelle.
The goalkeeping sector is unaffected as first choice Stanley Nwabali was not listed for the trip in the first place, as a result of the upcoming burial rites for his late parents.
Italy-based Maduka Okoye and Tanzania-based Amas Obasogie will still fight for the goaltender’s starting shirt.Read more
Giannis Antetokounmpo, Raptors have ‘mutual interest’ as Bucks exit rumors ramp up (NYPost)
The Greek Freak has some interest in Canada.
Giannis Antetokounmpo has been the center of trade talks since the Bucks’ season went down in flames in the first round of the playoffs, which included Damian Lillard tearing his Achilles.
The Toronto Star’s Doug Smith reports that Antetokounmpo and the Raptors have “mutual interest” and could be a good match in a potential trade. Read more
Chelsea Sign Essugo In Time For Club World Cup (Channels)
Chelsea announced the signing of Portuguese midfielder Dario Essugo on Monday from Sporting Lisbon in a deal worth £18 million ($25 million).
The 20-year-old, who spent last season on loan at Spanish side Las Palmas as they were relegated from La Liga, will be available to feature for the Blues at the Club World Cup later this month.
Essugo came through Sporting’s academy and became the youngest player to appear for the club’s first team at the age of 16 in March 2021. Read more
Ofili out of Racers Grand Prix (Punch)
Nigerian sprint sensation Favour Ofili has pulled out of the 2025 Racers Grand Prix, set to take place on Saturday, June 7, at the National Stadium in Kingston, Jamaica, PUNCH Sports Extra reports.
Her absence from the high-profile event was confirmed by Jamaican track and field analyst Kemal Forde, who revealed that Bahamian sprinter Anthonique Strachan and American Deajah Stevens have been drafted into the women’s 200m lineup to replace the Nigerian.
“Anthonique Strachan and Deajah Stevens have been added to the women’s 200m at this Saturday’s Racers Grand Prix as Nigeria’s Favour Ofili has scratched,” Forde stated. Read more