Again, police seal PDP secretariat as court restrains Sheriff

For the second time in two weeks, security agents have sealed the National Headquarters of the Peoples Democratic Party in Abuja.
It was learnt that security agents acted to prevent a repeat of Thursday’s violent confrontation between supporters of the Senator Ahmed Makarfi-led National Caretaker Committee and those backing the ousted National Chairman, Senator Ali Modu Sheriff.
Armed policemen and their counterparts from the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps prevented entry into the locked premises even as journalists were told to stay off the premises till Monday.

Ajimobi warns SSG, exco against backbiting, frivolity

Oyo State Governor, Senator Abiola Ajimobi, has sworn in Secretary to the State Government, Mr. Olalekan Alli, and 15 commissioners, with a warning that he will not tolerate backbiting, character assassination and frivolities.
Ajimobi gave the warning while addressing the new cabinet members at a ceremony held at the Executive Council Chambers of the Governor’s Office in Ibadan on Friday.

Obanikoro sues EFCC, seeks N100m damages

Former Minister of State for Defence, Mr. Musiliu Obanikoro, has dragged the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission before a Federal High Court in Lagos over an alleged breach of his fundamental human rights.
Obanikoro, who served under the immediate past administration, is demanding the sum of N100m as general damages for the alleged unlawful and unconstitutional forceful seizure, detention and/or freezing of several items, properties and personal effects belonging to him and members of his family by the EFCC on June 14, 2016.

Forex crisis: Nigerian students abroad apply to home universities

Many Nigerian students studying abroad have been seeking transfer to Nigerian universities to complete their education at home because of the scarcity of foreign exchange.
Saturday PUNCH gathered that the students were forced to take the decision following the huge exchange rate which many parents could no longer afford.
Some of the students told Saturday PUNCH that they would prefer to return to the country to complete their studies, instead of going through difficulties and long waits for forex that is no longer available to them at the appropriate time.

Buhari’s administration lacks vision –US ex-lawmaker

A former Chairman of the United States House Intelligence Committee, Pete Hoekstra, has flayed President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration for the way Nigeria is being run.
In an opinion article he wrote on Thursday in the US-based Wall Street Journal, titled, “Buhari is Nigeria problem, not its solution,” Hoekstra accused Buhari-led Federal Government of lacking vision in addressing the country’s dire economic and financial conditions.

Real Sapphire academy poised to groom real talents

There could be a million football academies scattered across Nigeria but the management of Real Sapphire Football Club have said they are determined to create a distinct identity that should place them shoulder to shoulder with any other quality sports training centre in any part of the world.
The Chairman/Chief executive Officer of the academy, Frank Peters, said in Lagos on Thursday that the project was born out of passion to develop the Nigerian young player the way he should be and it is expected that the desire for excellence will push the managers to the level they desire.
He said, “Having seen so much of the quality academies in Europe and the Americas, our goal here is to replicate them and this is achievable. We want young Nigerians to truly develop and showcase their talents the way it is done in standard sporting environments.

Rufai solicits HotSports’ partnership for football talent hunt

Ex-Super Eagles star, Peter Rufai is seeking the partnership of HotSports Nigeria, a subsidiary of HS Media Group, in discovering and promoting hidden football talents in schools in order to help develop the game nationally.
The renowned ex-goalkeeper nicknamed ‘Dodo Mayana’ was at the company’s corporate headquarters in Oregun, Lagos on Thursday where he held a closed door meeting with the Group’s Chairman/Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Taye Ige on how best to collaborate in discovering skilful players for Nigeria.

Toriola joins Belgian club

Nigerian table tennis star, Segun Toriola, will join a Belgian table tennis club after the 2016 Olympic Games.
The player, who will be featuring in his seventh Olympics for Nigeria in August, quit French Division Two side, Argentan Bayad, after nine years.
Toriola played his last game for Argentan on May 3 and was honoured by officials of the club in France.
Before dropping to second division two years ago, Argentan played in the Premiership Division with Toriola leading the team. They however finished third last season and failed to secure a return to the Premier League.

Russia 2018: FIFA to conduct special African ranking

World football governing body FIFA has said a special ranking will be established for African countries for the Russia 2018 World Cup qualifiers.
In a letter sent by mail to the football federations of the 20 countries in the last stage of the qualifiers, FIFA said it would release the ranking on June 21 following complaints from several of the teams.
The previous ranking, which was done by FIFA last week, was fraught with complaints as some countries believed it should have been done with the June FIFA ranking.
Egypt were reportedly among the countries who complained about the seedings, which put them in Pot two along with Nigeria. They argued that they should be in Pot 1, which is reserved for the top seeds.

Fathia Balogun goes bald again

Nollywood screen diva, Fathia Balogun, has gone bald again in a new film titled ‘Shola Arikusa’. This is coming 15 years after she went bald for her own production, ‘Makomi’ which was a hit movie.
The mother of two said she took the decision  because she did not want to relent in bringing out the best in her.

Marriage slowed us down –Artquake

When the name Artquake is mentioned, what readily comes to mind is the singing duo, Adex and Ice K that sang the hit song, ‘Alanta’ that rocked the airwaves in 2009. However, since they released the hit song, it seemed the duo mellowed on their career as they have not been able to come up with another club banger.
In a recent chat with Saturday Beats, they explained why their career seemed to be on the slow track.

Without my costume, I am physically challenged –Denrele

Known as the weird one, Denrele, has hardly been seen wearing clothes that normal people wear and that has been his brand identity. In a recent chat with Saturday Beats, the young man who is known for wearing crazy hairdos said that the thought of someone shaving his head has played across his mind but it would spell serious trouble because his hair is his saving grace.

Buhari’s military mentality affecting performance – Balarabe

A former Governor of the old Kaduna State, Alhaji Balarabe Musa, says Buhari’s military background in addressing ethnic agitations in the country was affecting his performance.
Balarabe said the Buhari-led Federal Government had not shown seriousness in using dialogue to resolve agitations from different geopolitical zones of the country.
Speaking in an interview with our correspondent on Thursday, Balarabe said Buhari should show that he is now a converted democrat by using dialogue to settle crises rocking the country.
The former governor, who described Buhari’s first year in office as a waste, said he doubted whether the President would make the most of the remaining three years of his tenure.

EFCC arrests ex-Customs boss, Dikko, for N40bn fraud

A former Comptroller-General of the Nigeria Customs Service, Alhaji Abdullahi Dikko, has been arrested by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, for allegedly diverting N40bn from the coffers of the NCS.

Dikko, it was learnt, had been on the radar of the EFCC for several months but his whereabouts had remained unknown.

However, the former Customs boss arrived at the headquarters of the anti-graft agency around 10am on Thursday where he remained until press time.

Sex scandal: US govt cancels three Reps’ visas, Dogara orders probe

The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mr. Yakubu Dogara, on Thursday, directed the investigation of three members of the House for an alleged sex scandal.

The Chairman, House Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Mr. Abdulrazak Namdas, confirmed this in Abuja just as investigations had shown that the United States Embassy had cancelled the visas of the affected members.

Buhari extends stay in London, returns Sunday

President Muhammadu Buhari will not return to Nigeria from London, where he is spending his 10-day medical vacation, until Sunday.
Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo disclosed this to State House correspondents on Thursday shortly before the commencement of a meeting of the National Economic Council at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
Buhari’s 10-day vacation expired on Wednesday.
By the time he would be arriving in Nigeria on Sunday, he would have spent 14 days.
He was earlier scheduled to arrive the country on Thursday.

COURT RULES AGAINST INTERNATIONAL BASKETBALL FEDERATION, FIBA

 The court decision prohibits FIBA and FIBA Europe from sanctioning clubs for participating in Euroleague Basketball competitions.
In addition, any national team that has achieved qualification to competitions organised by FIBA and FIBA Europe may not be excluded as a result of any club's decision to participate in Euroleague Basketball competitions.
Any direct or indirect sanctions, threats of sanctions, as well as undue pressure on clubs to act against their own will would result in a violation of the judge’s resolution.

Viable Educational standard, Panacea To Solving Africa's Poverty Challenge---Prof. Rajunor Ettarh

                                                          By D. Marcus Chucxz

“Education is the most powerful weapon with which you can change the world”, said the late South African leader and global statesman, Madiba Nelson Mandela. A look at the world map shows that the nations that are described as leaders in development, technology; nations with the highest GDPs, social stability and peace, are also nations that boast the highest numbers of educated persons and continue to improve the growth of their educational sectors. In the last six years, the Emirate of Dubai has been investing in a project tagged, ‘Educate the child, build a nation’ that hopes to complete her transitions from a product (oil) driven economy to one driven by information.