ONE WORD

Arsenal have been urged to bring the “tremendously sad story” of Mesut Ozil to an end, with Charlie Nicholas saying it is “time to say farewell” to the German and a number of defenders. A World Cup-winning playmaker has just completed a sixth season in north London. There have been plenty of highs during that time, but just as many lows for a man who has divided opinion and faced questions of his contribution throughout a spell in English football. A move elsewhere has been mooted for a while, dispute being tied to a lucrative contract, and Nicholas believes the time has come for the Gunners to move in a different direction. The ex-Arsenal forward told Sky Sports of Ozil: “It’s a tremendously sad story because he’s a seriously talented footballer. “But talented footballers, like everything else in the modern game, there is no passenger allowed in a team. “He sometimes sacrifices a bit of his game to assist other people and help other people, but it’s not working because ...

The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) have described the suspension of the operating licence of DAAR Communications PLC by the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) as blatant illegality. The group also said they are considering all the legal options to challenge NBC over the suspension of DAAR Communications licence. This was disclosed in a statement signed on Friday by SERAP’s Deputy Director, Kolawole Oluwadare. We are considering all the legal options to challenge this blatant illegality. These grounds are so subjective that if allowed to stand would seriously undermine freedom of expression, media freedom and access to information in the country. The mere fact that forms of expression on AIT/Raypower are considered by NBC to be insulting is not sufficient to justify the indefinite suspension. These grounds do not meet the requirements of legality, reasonableness, due process, necessity, and proportionality. The suspension amounts to an ...

Popular Nigerian comedian, I Go Dye has gifted his son a new house as the young boy turns a year older.     I Go Dye has stunned his many followers with the gift he gave his son on the boy's birthday.   The comedian revealed that he gave his boy a mansion to celebrate him turning a year older.   Taking to his Instagram page, he shared photos of the house and followed it up with a beautiful caption.   He wrote: " MY GIFT TO YOU ON YOUR 9TH YEARS BIRTHDAY SON. "I celebrate your 9 years birthday my son, expressing  the essence of shelter, reminiscent of how some of us grow up,with some things we never had.   "This GOLDEN SEAL CASTLE Birthday gift is just a step for you to achieve greater things in the future and praying that God should grant this privilege to many others.    "May this little gift bring forth hope to many children,who may not be privileged to have good shelter,nurturing in them that every thin...

The judge videoing members of the RCCG.  Controversial on-air personality, Daddy Freeze on Friday said Justice Folayemi Omoleye of the Appeal Court was right to have slapped a pastor of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, RCCG and assaulted other members over noise pollution. Justice Omoyele was alleged to have gone to the branch of the RCCG on the Ijapo Estate, Akure, Ondo State on Wednesday and disrupted the service by recording the church’s ongoing service with her mobile phone. Her action was said to have alarmed the church members, who challenged her for recording them, but the judge was alleged to have assaulted her challengers, including the pastors of the church. She was said to have slapped a female worshipper and some pastors, who tried to stop her from further recording the church’s activities The tough Appeal Court Judge Before the incident, it was gathered that the judge had complained of disturbance caused by the noise coming from the ch...

Justice Okon Abang of the Federal High Court in Abuja has ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to immediately issue the certificate of return to Rochas Okorocha, immediate past governor of Imo State, as the senator-elect for the Imo West Senatorial District. INEC had withheld Okorocha’s Certificate of Return on grounds that its Returning Officer who presided over the election complained to that he declared the results under duress. Okorocha had challenged INEC in court, demanding the return of his mandate which he said he duly won. In his judgment, Abang said INEC’s action was lawless and arbitrary, saying that the commission, having declared Okorocha winner had no power to withhold the certificate of return due to him. According to him, once the declaration was made under section 68(c) of the Electoral Act, INEC had become functus officio and INEC had no lawful authority to withhold the certificate of return for any reason whatsoever. He said the...

U.S. employers last month added the fewest workers in three months as wage gains cooled, suggesting broader economic weakness and likely boosting calls for a Federal Reserve interest-rate cut as President Donald Trump's trade policies weigh on the economy. Payrolls rose 75,000 after a downwardly revised 224,000 advance the prior month, according to a Labor Department report Friday that missed all estimates in Bloomberg’s survey calling for 175,000. The jobless rate held at a 49-year low of 3.6% while average hourly earnings climbed 3.1% from a year earlier, less than projected. The surprisingly sour data signal the labor market, a pillar of strength for an economy headed for a record expansion, was facing new pressures even before Trump threatened tariffs on Mexican goods in addition to proposed higher levies on Chinese imports. Retail sales, factory output and home purchases have shown the economy struggling this quarter after better-than- expected growth in the first three...

By Garba Shehu One would imagine that business papers like economic success stories; apparently not. Instead, they feast and thrive on negatives.  Financial Times , for instance, is worried about a government policy that is enabling boom in rice production in Nigeria. And the  Economist  is panicky about toothpick manufacturers springing up following tariffs that protect local manufacturers to get off the ground and compete globally. Both papers only see negatives. Specifically,  Economist  dwells on out-of-date statistics. Deliberately it turns away from the positives as it will complicate already tailored narratives. Some foreign correspondents keep the storyline simple: Africa is home for all bad things: poverty, disease and crime. And unremitting bleakness lives on the continent, and success is the aberration. Since only negative reports on Africa make it to the international media, a backward picture of a nation is painted succinctly and eff...

Two independent non-executive directors of Oando Plc have resigned from the company’s board.  Sena Anthony (pictured) and Oghogho Akpata have both informed the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) about their decisions. In their separate resignation letters dated June 3, 2019 and addressed to the company secretary/chief compliance officer of Oando, they did not give any reasons for their decision. TheCable understands, however, that they are “unhappy” with the outcome of the forensic investigation by the Securities and Exchange Committee (SEC), the stock market regulator, which indicted a number of the company’s executives and directors. Anthony and Akpata were not indicted. Wale Tinubu, the group managing director, and Mofe Boyo, his deputy, were asked by SEC to resign and barred from being directors of any public company for five years. They were accused of several infractions but they have secured a court order restraining the regulator from removing ...

Rochas Okorocha Justice Okon Abang of the Federal High Court in Abuja has ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to immediately issue the certificate of return to Rochas Okorocha, immediate past governor of Imo State, as the senator-elect for the Imo West Senatorial District. Details later

Farai Dziva|CAF President Ahmad Ahmad was released by French investigators on Thursday evening without charge against him. Ahmad was picked by the police at the Berri Hotel in Paris on Thursday morning for questioning following accusations corruption which rose from a contract dispute with Puma. CAF terminated their contract with the German sportswear manufacturer in favour of Technical Steel. Ahmad is accused of having influenced this decision, standing to be rewarded with up to $830,000. FIFA confirmed the detention but refused to comment further on the issues saying they were still waiting to get more information.

A man under investigation by the New York FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force because he allegedly discussed wanting to set off an explosive device in the city's iconic Times Square was being questioned early Friday, three law enforcement sources said. There is no threat to Times Square and the man has been under surveillance for some time and was closely monitored by authorities, the three law enforcement sources said. It was unclear if the man was formally arrested, but the officials described the person being monitored as a lone actor, adding that they were taking the threat seriously. Spokespeople for the New York Police Department, the FBI, and the U.S. Attorney's Office all declined to comment. In 2010, Pakistani immigrant Faisal Shahzad attempted to detonate a bomb in Times Square, which did not go off. He was arrested two days later when a bomb in the back of a sport utility vehicle fizzled with a mere sputter of smoke, drawing the attention of a street vendor wh...

The US Navy's USS Chancellorsville (CG-62) guided missile destroyer is seen anchored during a joint port visit with the USS Ronald Reagan (CVN-76) aircraft carrier (not seen) in Hong Kong on November 21, 2018. (Photo by ANTHONY WALLACE / AFP) (Photo credit should read ANTHONY WALLACE/AFP/Getty Images) MOSCOW/TOKYO, June 7 (Reuters) - Russia and the United States blamed each other for a near collision between their warships in the East China Sea on Friday with both countries accusing one another of dangerous and unprofessional behaviour. Russia's Pacific Fleet said that the USS Chancellorsville, a guided-missile cruiser, had come within just 50 metres (165 feet) of the Russian destroyer Admiral Vinogradov which had been forced to take emergency action to avoid a collision, Russian news agencies reported. They cited a Russian Pacific Fleet statement as saying the incident took place in the early hours of Friday morning in the eastern part of the East China Sea at a time w...

DAZN is pushing for the Andy Ruiz Jr.-Anthony Joshua rematch to take place in New York, just like the first fight, according to a report. DAZN, a standalone subscription channel specializing in combat sports, aired Saturday’s fight between Ruiz and Joshua that saw a major upset as Joshua lost via seventh-round TKO in a stunner at Madison Square Garden. The fight marked Joshua’s first in the U.S. as the British fighter’s previous 22 fights all took place in the U.K. Joshua’s promoter, Eddie Hearn, said after the fight that he expected a rematch to take place in November or December, probably in the U.K., but DAZN officials met with Joshua this week to discuss having the rematch in New York, according to boxing reporter Chris Mannix. Joshua has built a large following in the U.K., but his debut in the U.S. saw him get knocked down four times. Successfully breaking through in the United States is vital to being universally respected in the boxing world. Returning to the U.K....

May finally acknowledged defeat in a tearful resignation speech last month British Prime Minister Theresa May steps down as leader of her Conservative Party on Friday, formally triggering the race for a successor who will try where she failed to deliver Brexit. May will remain prime minister until a new leader is chosen, likely in late July, but has relinquished control over the direction of Britain's tortuous departure from the European Union. Brexit is still scheduled for October 31 but while her rivals thrash it out, the project remains stuck, with the only divorce plan agreed with Brussels stuck in parliament. May took office after the 2016 referendum vote to leave the EU and has spent the past three years working on the plan, delaying Brexit twice to try to get it through. But she finally acknowledged defeat in a tearful resignation speech last month, the culmination of months of political turmoil that has slowly sapped all her authority. Eleven Conservative MPs a...

The bond between China and Russia is getting stronger has Chinese President Xi Jinping was awarded an honorary doctorate from Russia’s St. Petersburg State University with Russian President Vladimir Putin attendance on Thursday. Xi was warmly welcomed by Putin when arriving at the main building of the university. After visiting an exhibition on the university’s cooperation with China, the two heads of state stepped into the auditorium together, where they were met with a standing ovation from the faculty members, students and guests present.  In a speech delivered after being awarded the certificate by the university’s rector, Xi said he feels honored to receive an honorary doctorate from St. Petersburg State University. The university, he said, is a world-renowned and time-honored academic institution which has made remarkable contributions to the scientific, cultural and educational development of Russia and the whole world, and produced many sinologists excellin...

A man has reportedly ended his life after committing suicide because his girlfriend left him.   The victim   A yet to be identified Nigerian man has reportedly taken his life after his girlfriend of 7 years dumped him.   It was gathered that the man took his life at his apartment by hanging himself with a rope.    A new video that was shared online shows the moment people were trying to remove the rope from his neck at the victim's apartment.   Someone could be heard in the video saying:  “Hey, nobody dey here? You just killed yourself for nothing, because of woman!”   It was not stated which particular state the sad incident took place.   Watch the video below:     credit by torinews

Every Lagosian knows that Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu and Dr Obafemi Hamzat were sworn-in as the 15th Governor and deputy-governor of Lagos State at a well-attended ceremony at the Tafawa Balewa Square (TBS), Lagos, on Wednesday. However, what many may not know is that just like his predecessor Akinwunmi Ambode, the new number 1 (and 2 citizens) of Lagos state will be driven around in an armored, bullet-proof Range Rover Sentinel Sports Utility Vehicle which was unveiled during their inauguration ceremony last month. Equipped with a 5.0-litre supercharged V8 engine, the hefty SUV is rumored to cost anything from ₦187 million and above. See pictures below:

The African Independent Television and other sister companies in the media circle have gone off air following government sanctions.       The Nigerian Broadcasting Corporation (NBC) has announced the suspension of the license of Daar Communications PLC. Daar Communications, owned by Raymond Dokpesi, owns AIT television and Ray Power radio station, Nigeria’s first private radio station. The Director-General of the NBC, Modibbo Kawu, announced the suspension Thursday evening while briefing journalists in Abuja, Daily Trust newspaper reports. PREMIUM TIMES reported how the NBC, Nigeria’s broadcast regulator, had earlier accused AIT of violating broadcast rules in some of its programmes. Mr Dokpesi, however, accused the NBC of clamping down on free speech. The suspension came hours after Mr Dokpesi led other AIT staff members and supporters to the U.S. Embassy in Abuja, protesting alleged victimisation by the Nigerian government. He vowed to challenge the punitive ...

    Just before President Muhammadu Buhari officially decreed the ruling of the 9th Assembly, Senate President Bukola Saraki gives his farewell well speech for the just concluded #8thSenateValedictory session at Senate house and it read thus; VALEDICTORY SPEECH BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE, HIS EXCELLENCY (DR.) ABUBAKAR BUKOLA SARAKI, CON, TO THE SENATORS OF THE 8TH SENATE OF THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA . PROTOCOL. Distinguished colleagues, as we come to the final plenary and the last few days of the eighth Senate, it is a victory in itself that we are seeing the journey to its momentous end. That I am here today, that you are here today, is a victory for democracy. It is a testament to what people can do when they come together for the greater good. This is also one of those occasions when the Supreme Creator reminds us, once again, that power does not reside in any one person. Before I proceed, let us pause to ...