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.