“No, no! I’ve never been. Politics have never been mine. You see, there are some qualities and some characteristics that make a politician.
A former head of state, Abdulsalami Abubakar has revealed why he was never interested in politics after retiring from the military. Abubakar was Nigeria’s head of state from June 9 1998 to May 29 1999, having succeeded Sani Abacha, who died in office in 1998.
The former head of state handed over power to a democratically elected president, Olusegun Obasanjo on May 29, 1999. He retired from the military after handing over power to Obasanjo.
Speaking on why he did not participate in politics after retirement, Abubakar, in an interview with Trust TV, said he is a “very reserved” person who does not meet some of the qualities of a politician.
This comes after Mercy announced the launching of her charity foundation.
According to the reality star, the charity foundation is a way for her to help those in need like business owners, sick people, the poor, single mothers, widows, students and homeless children living in the streets.
Mercy also promised to give out N5M to a few people with brilliant business ideas but are struggling to start one.
Taking to her official Instagram page to make this special announcement, the 28 -year-old millionaire wrote;
“The Mercy Eke Foundation is finally here. I have always wanted to give back, and I’m glad…
US track and field star Sha’Carri Richardson has been suspended for one month from the Olympic team after testing positive for THC, a chemical found in marijuana, the US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) announced on Friday
“The rules are clear, but this is heartbreaking on many levels; hopefully, her acceptance of responsibility and apology will be an important example to us all that we can successfully overcome our regrettable decisions, despite the costly consequences of this one to her,” said USADA CEO Travis T. Tygart in a press release.
Richardson had booked her spot at the Tokyo Olympics with a runaway victory in the women’s 100m at the US Olympic track and field trials in Eugene, Oregon last month. Due to the positive test, her Olympic trials results were automatically disqualified and she will not be allowed to participate in her signature 100m race at the Tokyo Olympics later this month.
“Richardson’s competitive results obtained on June 19, 2021, including her Olympic qualifying results at the Team Trials, have been disqualified, and she forfeits any medals, points, and prizes. Beyond the one-month sanction, athlete eligibility for the Tokyo Games is determined by the USOPC and/or USA Track & Field eligibility rules.”
“Sha’Carri Richardson’s situation is incredibly unfortunate and devastating for everyone involved,” USA Track and Field said in a statement. “Athlete health and well-being continue to be one of USATF’s most critical priorities and we will work with Sha’Carri to ensure she has ample resources to overcome any mental health challenges now and in the future.”
It’s unclear whether Richardson will miss the Games altogether. She may still be eligible to compete in another event besides the 100m, such as the 4x100m relay.
Richardson appeared on NBC’s TODAY show on Friday morning and said: “I just want to take responsibility for my actions, I know what I did, I know what I’m supposed to do, I’m allowed not to do and I still made that decision. I’m not making an excuse or looking for any empathy in my case.”
Richardson cited finding out from a reporter that her biological mother had passed away as part of the reason she consumed marijuana, saying: “I was just thinking it would be a normal interview and then on the interview to hear that information come from a complete stranger, it was definitely triggering, it was nerve shocking because it’s like who are you to tell me that?
“From there just blinded by emotions, blinded by bad news, blinded by just hiding hurt, honestly for the fact that I can’t hide myself, so at least in some type of way, I was trying to hide my pain.”
The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the USADA label cannabis as a banned substance as it “poses a health risk to athletes, has the potential to enhance performance and violates the spirit of sport.”
“Everything I do comes from me naturally. No steroid(s). No anything. This incident was about marijuana. After my sanctions are up, I’ll be back and able to compete and every single time I step on the track I’ll be ready to compete for whatever anti-doping agency to come and get what it is that they need,” Richardson concluded.
Meanwhile the presence of marijuana on the World Anti-Doping Agency’s banned substance list has long been controversial. Canadian snowboarder Ross Rebagliati was originally stripped of his 1998 Olympic gold medal after testing positive for THC but that decision was overturned since it wasn’t on the banned substance list at the time. USADA singles out three reasons why cannabinoids are banned: athletes could endanger themselves and others because of slower reaction times and poor executive function and decision making, marijuana can be “performance enhancing for some athletes and sports disciplines,” and the use of “illicit drugs that are harmful to health” is “not consistent with the athlete as a role model for young people around the world”.
As for the moral high-horse bit: can anyone reasonably argue, in this day and age, that an athlete using marijuana deserves a boot from the Olympics because such behavior is “not consistent with the athlete as a role model for young people around the world?” In a world where momentum for legalization is growing (it’s legal in Oregon, where Richardson competed at Trials)? In a situation where someone may have turned to a legal substance to cope with grief? Come on.
None of these reasons seem to apply in Richardson’s case. She endangered no one at the track: quite the opposite, she distanced herself from the competition. The performance-enhancing benefits of marijuana are, if not specious, at least very much up for debate. A 2018 literature review published in the Clinical Journal of Sports Medicine, for example, said that “although cannabis use is more prevalent in some athletes engaged in high-risk sports, there is no direct evidence of performance-enhancing effects in athletes.” Even USADA’s statement on Richardson’s suspension acknowledges “her use of cannabis occurred out of competition and was unrelated to sport performance.”
Sunday Igboho said that while they were planning to come for rally somebody was preparing plan B against the rally. He also likened the recent invasion of his principal’s residence in Soka, Oyo State on Thursday by operatives of the Department of State Services (DSS) to an “assassination” attempt.
Somebody was not happy we are planning to come to Lagos for rally says Igboho.
In a live broadcast monitored by The Nation early friday, Koiki, said: “DSS released false allegations against him (Igboho) just to silence him and not to speak up again.
The DSS said a joint team of security operatives raided Igboho’s residence based on an intelligence report.
The plan was that they knew that nobody would stop Sunday Igboho from attending that peaceful rally that we have done in every state,
“So somebody sent a message to DSS, to get to Ibadan and bring Sunday Igboho’s body to Abuja.
The target was to kill him Igboho before the Lagos mega rally, they came heavily well prepared.
“They came 72 hours before the mega rally, if you read the DSS statement, you’ll know they were prepared to kill him or label him as a criminal.”
Koiki also alleged that DSS officials took away a cat when they raided the house
According to him, operatives thought Igboho turned into the cat to escape arrest.
He said: “Sunday Igboho escaped not because he was stronger but God rescued him. How will they say that they saw one dollar?
“They can label anyone but we will not back down. They want Igboho dead. The target was to kill him but they failed.
They took one of his cats away, thinking he transformed into a cat during the attack to escape. All the allegations against Igboho should be for terrorists killing people in the country.”
Elsa van der Venter has been cleared of COVID but is still receiving oxygen therapy at a Bloemfontein hospital, while her parents succumbed to the virus.
As the COVID-19 third wave sweeps across the country, those whose lives have been wrecked by the virus are pleading with South Africans to do everything they can to protect themselves.
Dozens of people are dying with the disease every day and thousands more are testing positive.
Among those who’ve tested positive is 26-year-old Elsa van de Venter who recently lost both her parents to COVID and was herself struck down by the virus
Van der Venter has been cleared of COVID but is still receiving oxygen therapy at a Bloemfontein hospital.
From her hospital bed, Van der Venter explains how her mother succumbed to COVID-19 on 13 June.
At the time, her father was already in hospital fighting the disease and then the young woman herself was admitted to the same intensive care unit as her father. He didn’t make it.
“He lay two beds away from me. I never saw him, I never got to say goodbye, I never got to take his hand and be with him… that is a very emotional thing for me.”
Van der Venter father passed away just three days after her mother lost her battle to COVID related complications.
She is urging people to be safe and to keep COVID-19 safety protocols top of mind.
The third wave isn’t a joke. It is something you can’t play with; it strikes near our hearts and near our houses now and I say keep your people safe. If you go to town, if you go and buy your groceries, one person must go and sanitise everything.”
With her having to focus on her own health and recovery, she said she still had to deal with how drastically her life had changed over the past few weeks.
I haven’t really processed my parents passing away. I think that will get real if I’m at home.”
South Africa is in the grips of the worst wave of the virus and medical facilities are buckling under enormous pressure.
President Muhammadu Buhari has said that the problem of the country is Nigerians and not ethnicity or religion.
Receiving members of the Muhammadu Buhari/Osinbajo (MBO) Dynamic Support Group, who visited the State House in Abuja on Wednesday June 30 to present a compendium of five years achievements of the administration, the President recounted his struggle to get justice after disputed results of presidential elections in 2003, 2007, and 2011.
Buhari said that those who ruled against him were of his own ethnic stock and religious persuasion, while those who stood up for him were of other faith and ethnicity.
The President said;
“Our problem is not ethnicity or religion, it is ourselves. After my third appearance in the Supreme Court, I came out to speak to those who were present then. I told them that from 2003, I’d spent 30 months in court.
“The President of the Court of Appeal, the first port of call for representation by presidential candidates then, was my classmate in secondary school in Katsina. We spent six years in the same class, Justice Umaru Abdullahi.
“My legal head was Chief Mike Ahamba, a Roman Catholic and an Igbo man. When the President of the court decided that we should present our case, my first witness was in the box.
“Ahamba insisted that a letter should be sent to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), to present the register of constituencies in some of the States, to prove that what they announced was falsehood. It was documented.
“When they gave judgment, another Igbo man, the late Justice Nsofor, asked for the reaction from INEC to the letter sent to them. They just dismissed it. He then decided to write a minority judgment. That was after 27 months in court.
We went to the Supreme Court. Who was Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN)? A Hausa-Fulani like me, from Zaria. The members of the panel went in for about 30 minutes, came back to say they were proceeding on break. They went for 3 months. When they came back, it didn’t take them 15 minutes, they dismissed us.
“In 2007, who was the CJN? Kutigi. Again, a Muslim from the North. After 8 months or so, he dismissed the case.
“Again in 2011, because I was so persistent, Musdafa, a Fulani man like me, from Jigawa, neighbor to my state, was CJN. He dismissed my case.
“I’ve taken you round this to prove that our problem is not ethnicity or religion. It is ourselves.
“I refused to give up. I had tried to wear Agbada after what happened to me in Khaki. Something was done to me, because I did something to others. You know it. In the end, I myself was arrested, sent to detention, and they were given back what they had taken. I was there for three and a quarter years. This is Nigeria.
“I hope historians and intellectuals would document this, because it is a fantastic state of political development. Let our grandchildren and great grandchildren see how we came along. We didn’t get it as easy as other people think. Not because God has given us great population and resources. We have suffered along the line.
“I try to mention these things because you got yourselves together, used your resources, energies without any input from me. I cannot thank you enough. I’m very grateful to you and to Nigerians because in 2019, I visited all the states, the people that turned out to see me across the country (because I’m dedicated to serve Nigeria and Nigerians), the love is genuine.
“Thank God that over the years, they can’t accuse me of corruption. And I’ve been everything; Governor, Minister of Petroleum Resources, Head of State, President and in my second term. I thank you that nobody forced you, but you got together, used your energy, time and resources, I thank you very much. I assure you, history will do you justice.”
Onsi Sawiris, the patriarch of a family of billionaire businessmen who launched a group of multinational companies under the Orascom umbrella, died on Tuesday at the age of 90.
Chairman of the Coptic Christian General Authority, Sherif Doss, announced the death of the Egyptian billionaire, who was the father of three tycoons Naguib, Nassef, and Samih.
Mr. Sawiris received an engineering degree from Cairo University and started his construction firm in 1950. In 1976, he established the Orascom General Contracting and Trade Company, which later became Orascom Construction Industries.
His conglomerate is one of the country’s largest contractors for building roads and waterways. It was expanded in the 1980s and 1990s by working in tourism, hotels, computer and mobile phone services.
Onsi Sawiris is the father of famous Egyptian businessmen Naguib, Nassef, and Samih. According to Forbes, Onsi Sawiris’s net wealth is estimated at 993.8 million U.S. dollars while his son Nassef is Egypt’s richest person with 7.1 billion U.S. dollars fortune.
A statement released by DSP Abimbola Oyeyemi, spokesperson of the state police command, states that the suspects, Tajudeen Bankole and Fawoyi Rotimi, were arrested following a distress call received from one Ibikunle Idowu that the two men came to his hotel, presented themselves as police officers and demanded for an unspecified amount of money from him. He stated further that the two men were threatening to bundle him into their car should he refuse to meet their demands.
Upon the distress call, the Dpo Ibogun division csp Samuel Oladele mobilized his men and moved to the scene where they met the two men and got them arrested.
On interrogation, one of them confessed to being a dismissed policeman while the other one used to be an informant. They confessed further that they were passing through the area when they discovered that they don’t have much fuel in their car and they decided to extort the owner of the hotel in order to get money to fuel the car.
Recovered from them are two forged police warrant cards.
In a related development, operatives of SWAT in Ogun state have apprehended one Oduola Abiola for impersonating to be a civil Defense officer. The 31 year old was arrested when a stolen phone was traced to him at Ibara area of Abeokuta. He was arrested with a complete civil defense uniform which he claimed to have stolen from a civil defense officer.
President Buhari’s daughter, Hanan graduated with a Distinction in (MA) Fine Art Photography from the prestigious Royal College of Art, London, United Kingdom.
The convocation ceremony was held at the Royal Albert Hall in South Kensington, on Tuesday, June 29, 2021.
In attendance were her husband, Muhammad Turad Sha’aban, her sister, Halima Sheriff brother, Yusuf Buhari, brother-in-law, Babagana Muhammed Sheriff, friends and other family members.
Serena Williams broke down in tears as she was forced to retire in the opening set of her first-round clash at Wimbledon.
The 23-time Grand Slam winner, who is still pursuing Margaret Court’s all-time record, started Tuesday evening’s match against world number 100 Aliaksandra Sasnovich well though but had to retire from the game due to injury to her right thigh.
The 39-year-old American, who wore strapping on her right thigh from the start of the match, broke Sasnovich in the Bulgarian’s second service game but appeared to roll her ankle in the process of returning a shot.
‘I’m so sad for Serena, she’s a great champion,’ said Sasnovich on court after her unexpected progression to the second round. ‘I just wish the best for her and the best recovery.’
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