Day: 8 August 2024

Ex-CAF President, Issa Hayatou is dead

Yemi Thomas, Entertainment Editor

Issa Hayatou, a former President of the Confederation of African Football (CAF), has passed away, aged 77. According to reports, the football administrator, who was a key figure in African football for decades, died in Paris on Thursday. His death comes just a day before his 78th birthday, having been born on August 9, 1946, in Garoua, Cameroon. Hayatou served as CAF’s president for an unprecedented 29 years (from 1988 to 2017) and was instrumental in getting Africa’s slots at the FIFA World Cup increased from two to five. It…

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Shame of a Nation: Nigerian cyclist borrows bicycle from German team at Olympics

Jide Ige

se Lovina Ukpeseraye, a Nigerian Cyclist competing in the ongoing 2024 Olympics has narrated how help came her way from the German team at the Paris Olympics after she was stranded without a bicycle to to train with due to the short notice of her participation. In a display of sportsmanship, Nigerian cyclist, Ukpeseraye, got crucial support from the German cycling team at the Paris Olympics. Ukpeseraye, representing Team Nigeria, found herself in a difficult situation when she had no bicycle to race with in the keirin and sprint events…

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Enraged! Women Affairs Minister, Kenedy-Ohanenye stops food security event, arrests organiser

Wura Kelani, Crime Reporter

The Minister of Women Affairs and Social Development, Uju Kenedy-Ohanenye, on Thursday, disrupted an ongoing event in the Federal Capital City of Abuja, accusing the organiser of impersonating the ministry. In a one-minute video posted on the official X (formerly Twitter) handle of the International Centre for Investigative Reporting, #TheICIR, the minister disclosed that the organiser had been arrested and that the event was on hold. The event was planned by Mela-Chiyoma PAT Limited and themed “Unveiling the Power of Women in Food Security”, although other details of the event…

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G.O jailed eight years for raping church member’s wife

Wura Kelani, Crime Reporter

Justice T. N . Nzeukwu of the Imo State High Court has convicted and sentenced a pastor, Desmond Eke, to eight years imprisonment for raping his church member’s wife. Eke, the General Overseer of Deliverance Ministry of the Good Shepherd, Umuehieta Avu, Owerri West Local Government Area of Imo State was found guilty of taking advantage of the woman who had vested so much trust in him. The convict was tried on three counts that bordered on raping the victim who is also a member of his church and administering…

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Unknown crossdresser’s corpse dumped on Abuja expressway

Jide Ige

Bennett Igweh, the Federal Capital Territory Commissioner of Police, on Thursday ordered an investigation into the death of a yet-to-be-identified man dressed in women’s clothing. The police, in a statement by the command spokesperson, Josephine Adeh, said it received a distress call about a woman’s corpse found along the Katampe-Mabushi expressway and promptly dispatched detectives to the scene. Adah added that preliminary investigations by the detectives revealed that the individual was a man fully dressed in female clothing with no means of identification on him. She said the individual was…

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Xenophobic attacks force Miss South Africa contestant with Nigerian roots to stepdown

Jide Ige

Chidimma Adetshina a Miss South Africa contestant whose Nigerian heritage sparked a national controversy and a government investigation withdrew from the beauty pageant on Thursday. Chidimma Adetshina’s announcement that she would not participate in Saturday’s final came a day after the Home Affairs ministry accused her mother of fraud and identity theft. “After much careful consideration, I have made the difficult decision to withdraw myself from the competition for the safety and wellbeing of my family and I,” Adetshina, 23, wrote on Instagram. Adetshina, a law student, has been the…

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NIS suspends officer caught on camera begging for money at Murtala Muhammed International Airport

Jide Ige

The Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) has suspended indefinitely an officer of the service, Okpravero Ufuoma, who was filmed begging a traveller for financial assistance at Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos State. The suspension followed a video that went viral on Nigerian social media, showing Assistant Superintendent of Immigration II (ASI 2), Okpravero C. Ufuoma, unknowingly captured by a traveller using camera-enabled eyeglasses, soliciting money while on duty. In a statement released on Wednesday and signed by Comptroller General Kemi Nana Nandap, the NIS condemned the officer’s conduct as disgraceful and…

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NNPC Withdrawal: Dangote Refinery to sell 12.75% stake to new investors – Fitch report

Jide Ige

Dangote Oil Refining Company (DORC) plans to divest a 12.75% stake in its refinery to new investors after the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) Limited withdrew from fulfilling its obligations for a 20% acquisition of the refinery. This is contained in a Fitch Rating report on Dangote Industries Limited (DIL), Nigeria’s biggest Indigenous conglomerate. The report which focuses on liquidity concerns and debt restructuring of the company confirmed that NNPC’s reduction of the acquisition of the refinery from 20% to 7.2% means the company will offer the remaining 12.75% to…

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Zenith Bank’s capital raise Hybrid Rights Issues and PO: The Takeaways

Jasmin Ekua, Banking & Finance

Zenith Bank Plc has announced a Hybrid Rights Issue and offer for subscription, aiming to raise about N290 billion. This move is significant as it marks a major step in meeting the CBN’s new minimum capital requirement of N500 billion. With the Bank’s current issued and fully paid share capital of N15.698 billion and a share premium of N255.047 billion, Zenith Bank requires about N229.225 billion to meet this requirement. Background Zenith Bank Plc, a leading financial services institution, has a history of strong performance. However, the new capital requirement…

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FG suspends sales of N40k per bag of rice

Jide Ige

The federal government has halted the plan to the sell subsidized 50-kilogram (kg) bags of rice to public servants priced at N40,000. This is contained in a circular titled, “Withdrawal of internal circular on sale of subsidized rice to public servants”, and signed by the permanent secretary of the Ministry of Special Duties and Inter-Governmental Affairs Human Resources Management Department. The circular which was directed to the Directors and Heads of Departments, said the initial circular ordering the sales of the N40,000 bag of rice is hereby withdrawn. There was…

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Don’t allow Dangote monopolize petroleum sector -IPMAN, DPMAN bosses warn

Jide Ige

Abdulkabir Aliyu, the National Chairman of the Depot and Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria and his counterpart at the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, Abubakar Shettima, have warned the National Assembly and industry stakeholders against granting requests that will create a monopoly in Nigeria’s oil sector. They spoke at the National Assembly Complex in Abuja, during a presentation to the special adhoc committee of the senate. Abdulkabir Aliyu pointed that Dangote declared N133 billion profit on sugar sales in Nigeria within the last six months, noting that such a…

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